TH 

SCIENCES 
imKARY 


/BERKElErN 

I   LIBRARY 

I     UNIVERSITY  OF 
V    CALIFORNIA 

N -  ^S 


THE   STORY 


OF 


THE   EARTH  AND  MAN. 


UIU7BRSIT7 


DIAGRAM  OF  THE   EARTHS  HISTORY.. 


ANIMALS 


ROCK     FORMATIONS 


PLANTS 


Age 

of 

Man 
(Upper  Strata 

and 
Mammals 


Reptiles 


Laurentiari 


Harper  «c  Brothers  New  York. 


THE  STORY 


OF 


THE  EARTH  AND  MAN, 


BY 

J.  W.  DAWSOX,  LL.D.,  F.K.S.,  F.G.S., 

PUINCIPAL  AND  VICE-CHANCELLOR  OP  McGILL  UNIVERSITY,  MONTREAL, 
AUTHOR  OF  "ARCHAIA,"  '*  ACADIAN  GEOLOGY,"  ETC. 


NEW    YORK: 
HARPER  &   BROTHERS,  PUBLISHERS, 

SQUARE 


EARTH 
SCIENCES 
LIBRARY 


UHTIV 
PREFACE 


THE  science  of  the  earth  as  illustrated  by  geological 
research,  is  one  of  the  noblest  outgrowths  of  our 
modern  intellectual  life.  Constituting  the  sum  of 
all  the  natural  sciences  in  their  application  to  the 
history  of  our  world,  it  affords  a  very  wide  and  varied 
scope  for  mental  activity,  and  deals  with  some  of  the 
grandest  problems  of  space  and  time  and  of  organic 
existence.  It  invites  us  to  be  present  at  the  origin 
of  things,  and  to  enter  into  the  very  workshop  of  the 
Creator.  It  has,  besides,  most  important  and  intimate 
connection  with  the  industrial  arts  and  with  the  mate- 
rial resources  at  the  disposal  of  man.  Its  educational 
value,  as  a  means  of  cultivating  the  powers  of  ob- 
serving and  reasoning,  and  of  accustoming  the  mind 
to  deal  with  large  and  intricate  questions,  can  scarcely 
be  overrated. 

But  fully  to  serve  these  high  ends,  the  study  of 
geology  must  be  based  on  a  thorough  knowledge  of 
the  subjects  which  constitute  its  elementary  data.  It 
must  be  divested  as  far  as  possible  of  merely  local 
colouring,  and  of  the  prejudices  of  specialists.  It 
must  be  emancipated  from  the  control  of  the  bald 
metaphysical  speculations  so  rife  in  our  time,  and 


Vlil  PREFACE. 

above  all  it  must  be  delivered  from  that  materialistic 
infidelity,  which,  by  robbing  nature  of  the  spiritual 
element,  and  of  its  presiding  Divinity,  makes  science 
dry,  barren,  and  repulsive,  diminishes  its  educational 
value,  and  even  renders  it  less  efficient  for  purposes 
of  practical  research. 

That  the  want  of  these  preliminary  conditions  mars 
much  of  the  popular  science  of  our  day  is  too  evident ; 
and  I  confess  that  the  wish  to  attempt  something 
better,  and  thereby  to  revive  the  interest  in  geological 
study,  to  attract  attention  to  its  educational  value,  and 
to  remove  the  misapprehensions  which  exist  in  some 
quarters  respecting  it,  were  principal  reasons  which 
induced  me  to  undertake  the  series  of  papers  for  the 
Leisure  Hour,  which  are  reproduced,  with  some  amend- 
mer.ts  and  extension,  in  the  present  work.  How  far 
I  have  succeeded,  I  must  leave  to  the  intelligent  and, 
I  trust,  indulgent  reader  to  decide.  In  any  case  I 
have  presented  this  many-sided  subject  in  the  aspect 
in  which  it  appears  to  a  geologist  whose  studies  have 
led  him  to  compare  with  each  other  the  two  great 
continental  areas  which  are  the  classic  ground  of  the 
science,  and  who  retains  his  faith  in  those  unseen 
realities  of  which  the  history  of  the  earth  itself  is  but 
one  of  the  shadows  projected  on  the  field  of  time. 

To   geologists   who   may   glance   at   the   following 


PEEPACE.  IX 

pages,  I  would  say  that,  amidst  much  that  is  familiar, 
they  will  find  here  and  there  some  facts  which  may 
be  new  to  them,  as  well  as  some  original  suggestions 
and  conclusions  as  to  the  relations  of  things,  which 
though  stated  in  familiar  terms,  I  have  not  advanced 
without  due  consideration  of  a  wide  range  of  facts, 
To  the  general  reader  I  have  endeavoured  to  present 
the  more  important  results  of  geological  investigation 
divested  of  technical  difficulties,  yet  with  a  careful  re- 
gard to  accuracy  of  statement,  and  in  such  a  manner 
as  to  invite  to  the  farther  and  more  precise  study  of 
the  subject  in  nature,  and  in  works  which  enter  into 
technical  details.  I  have  endeavoured  as  far  as  pos- 
sible to  mention  the  authors  of  important  discoveries ; 
but  it  is  impossible  in  a  work  of  this  kind  to  quote 
authority  for  every  statement,  while  the  omission  of 
much  important  matter  relating  to  the  topics  discussed 
is  also  unavoidable.  Shortcomings  in  these  respects 
must  be  remedied  by  the  reader  himself,  with  the 
aid  of  systematic  text-books.  Those  who  may  desire 
any  farther  explanation  of  the  occasional  allusions  to 
the  record  of  creation  in  Genesis,  will  find  this  in  my 
previously  published  volume  entitled  "  Archaia." 

J.  W.  D, 

McG-iLL  COLLEGE,  MONTREAL, 
January,  1873. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. — THE  GENESIS  OF  THE  EARTH. 

Uniformity  and  Progress.  —  Internal  Heat.  —  Nebular 
Theory. — Probable  Condition  of  the  Primitive  World  1 

CHAPTER  II. — THE  Eozoic  AGES. 

The  Laurentian  Rocks.— Their  Character  and  Distribution. 
— The  Conditions  of  their  Deposition.— Their  Meta- 
morphism.— Eozoon  Canadense. — Laurentian  Vegeta- 
tion   17 

CHAPTER  III. — THE  PRIMORDIAL  OR  CAMBRIAN  AGE. 

Connection  of  the  Laurentian  and  Primordial.— Animals 
of  the  Primordial  Seas.— Lingula,  Trilobites,  Old- 
hamia,  etc.— The  terms  Cambrian  and  Silurian.— 
Statistics  of  Primordial  Life  .  .  .  •  .36 

CHAPTER  IV. — THE  SILURIAN  AGES. 

Geography  of  the  Continental  Plateaus. — Life  of  the 
Silurian. — Reign  of  Invertebrates. — Corals,  Crinoids, 
Mollusks,  Crustaceans.  —  The  First  Vertebrates. — 
Silurian  Fishes.— Land  Plants 56 

CHAPTER  V. — THE  DEVONIAN  OR  ERIAN  AGE. 

Physical  Character  of  the  Age.— Difference  of  Deposits  in 
Marginal  and  Continental  Areas. — Specialisation  of 
Physical  Geography.— Corals,  Crustaceans,  Fishes, 
Insects,  Plants  .......  81 


Xii  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  VI. — THE  CARBONIFEROUS  AGE. 

na« 

Perfection  of  Palaeozoic  Life. — Carboniferous  Geography. 
—Colours  of  Sediments.— Vegetation.— Origin  of  Coal. 
— Land  Life. — Eeptiles,  Land  Snails,  Millipedes,  etc. 
—Oceanic  Life 109 

CHAPTER  VII.— THE  PERMIAN  AGE. 

Movements  of  the  Land. — Plication  of  the  Crust. — Che- 
mical Conditions  of  Dolomite,  etc. — Geographical 
Results  of  Permian  Movements. — Life  of  the  Period. 
— Summary  of  Palaeozoic  History  ....  160 

CHAPTER  VIII. — THE  MESOZOIC  AGES. 

Characters  of  the  Trias. — Summary  of  Changes  in  the 
Triassic  and  Cretaceous  Periods. — Changes  of  the 
Continental  Plateaus.  —  Relative  Duration  of  the 
Palaeozoic  and  Mesozoic. — Mesozoic  Forests. — Land 
Animals. — The  reign  of  Reptiles. — Early  Mammals 
and  Birds  .  .  ...  .  .  *  .188 

CHAPTER  IX. — THE  MESOZOIC  AGES — (continued). 

Animals  of  the  Sea. — Great  Sea  Lizards,  Fishes,  Cephalo- 
pods,  etc. — Chalk  and  its  History. — Tabular  View  of 
the  Mesozoic  Ages .  211 

CHAPTER  X. — THE  NEOZOIC  AGES. 

Physical  Changes  at  the  end  of  Mesozoic. — Subdivisions 
of  the  Neozoic. — Great  Eocene  Seas. — Land  Animals 
and  Plants.  —Life  of  the  Miocene. — Reign  of  Mammals  235 

CHAPTER  XI. — THE  NEOZOIC  AGES — (continued). 

Later  Vegetation. — The  Animals  of  the  Pliocene  Period. 
— Approach  of  the  Glacial  Period. — Character  of  the 
Post-pliocene  or  Glacial 258 


CONTENTS.  Xll) 

CHAPTER  XII.— CLOSE  OF  THE  POST-PLIOCENE,  AND 
ADVENT  or  MAN. 

PAQl 

Connection  of  Geological  and  Human  History. — The  Post- 
glacial Period. — Its  Eelations  to  the  Pre-Historic 
Human  Period. — Elevation  of  Post-Pliocene  Land. — 
Introduction  of  Man-. — Subsidence  and  Ee-elevation. — 
Calculations  as  to  Time. — Tabular  View  of  the  Neozoic 
Ages 282 

CHAPTER  XIIL— ADVENT  OF  MAN— (continued). 

Relations  of  Post-pliocene  and  Modern  Animals.— Cavern 
Deposits. — Kent's  Cave.  —  General  Remarks  .  .299 

CHAPTER  XIV. — PRIMITIVE  MAN. 

Theory  of  Evolution  as  applied  to  Man. — Its  Demands. — 
Its  Deficiencies. — Fallacious  Character  of  Arguments 
of  Derivationists. — Hypothesis  of  Creation. — Its 
Demands  and  Advantages 316 

CHAPTER  XV.— PRIMITIVE  MAN— (continued). 

Geological  Conditions  of  Man's  Introduction. — His  Modern 
Date. — His  Isolated  Position. — His  Higher  Powers.  — 
Pictures  of  Primitive  Man  according  to  Evolution  wid 
Creation.— General  Conclusion*  .  .  .350 


LIST   OF    ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAOl 

IDEAL  SECTIONS  ILLUSTRATING  THE  GENESIS  or  THE  EARTH      8 

AMERICA  IN  THE  LAURENTIAN  PERIOD 18 

EOZOON  OANADENSE .       .    24 

LIFE  IN  THE  PRIMORDIAL  AGE  .  .  •  ,  .  .40 
ORGANIC  LIMESTONE  OF  THE  SILURIAN  .  .  .  .63 
LIFE  IN  THE  SILURIAN.  ...*...  66 

LIFE  IN  THE  DEVONIAN 88 

VEGETATION  OF  THE  DEVONIAN 103 

CARBONIFEROUS  PLANTS 126 

OLDEST  LAND  SNAILS  .  .  .  •  »  .  •  ,,139 
CARBONIFEROUS  REPTILES  .  .  .  .  «  .  .146 
FOLDINGS  OF  THE  CRUST  IN  THE  PERMIAN  PERIOD  .  .162 
CURVES  OF  ELEVATION  AND  DEPRESSION  .  .  .  .179 
CULMINATION  OP  TYPES  OF  PALAEOZOIC  ANIMALS  .  .  .183 

LAND  ANIMALS  OF  THE  MESOZOIC 194 

AQUATIC  ANIMALS  OF  THE  MESOZOIC    .        .  .        .219 

FORAMINIFERAL  EOCK-BUILDERS 243 

MIOCENE  MAMMALS 253 

BRITAIN  IN  THE  POST-PLIOCEN* .30] 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  GENESIS  OP  THE  EAETH. 

THE  title  of  this  work  is  intended  to  indicate  precisely 
its  nature.  It  consists  of  rough,  broad  sketches  of 
the  aspects  of  successive  stages  in  the  earth's  history, 
as  disclosed  by  geology,  and  as  they  present  themselves 
to  observers  at  the  present  time.  The  last  qualification 
is  absolutely  necessary,  when  dealing  with  a  science 
whose  goal  to-day  will  be  its  starting  point  to-morrow, 
and  in  whose  view  every  geological  picture  must  have 
its  light  and  shaded  portions,  its  clear  foreground  and 
its  dim  distance,  varying  according  to  the  lights  ca&t 
on  them  by  the  progress  of  investigation,  and  accord- 
ing to  the  standpoint  of  the  observer.  In  such  pic- 
tures results  only  can  be  given,  not  the  processes  by 
which  they  have  been  obtained ;  and  with  all  possible 
gradations  of  light  and  distance,  it  may  be  that  the 
artist  will  bring  into  too  distinct  outline  facts  still  only 
dimly  perceived,  or  will  give  too  little  prominence  to 


2         THE  STORY  OF  THE  EAETH  AND  MAN. 

others  which,  should  appear  in  bold  relief.  He  must 
in  this  judge  for  himself;  and  if  the  writer's  impres- 
sions do  not  precisely  correspond  with  those  of  others, 
he  trusts  that  they  will  allow  something  for  difference 
of  vision  and  point  of  view. 

The  difficulty  above  referred  to  perhaps  rises  to  its 
maximum  in  the  present  chapter.  For  how  can  any 
one  paint  chaos,  or  give  form  and  filling  to  the  form- 
less void  ?  Perhaps  no  word-picture  of  this  period 
of  the  first  phase  of  mundane  history  can  ever  equal 
the  two  negative  touches  of  the  inspired  penman — 
"without  form  and  void" — a  world  destitute  of  all 
its  present  order,  and  destitute  of  all  that  gives  it  life 
and  animation.  This  it  was,  and  not  a  complete  and 
finished  earth,  that  sprang  at  first  from  its  Creator's 
hand;  and  we  must  inquire  in  this  first  chapter  what 
information  science  gives  as  to  any  such  condition  of 
the  earth. 

In  the  first  place,  the  geological  history  of  the  earth 
plainly  intimates  a  beginning,  by  utterly  negativing 
the  idea  that  "all  things  continue  as  they  were  from 
the  creation  of  the  world."  It  traces  back  to  their 
origin  not  only  the  animals  and  plants  which  at  present 
live,  but  also  their  predecessors,  through  successive 
dynasties  emerging  in  long  procession  from  the  depths 
of  a  primitive  antiquity.  Not  only  so;  it  assigns  to 
their  relative  ages  all  the  rocks  of  the  earth's  crust, 
and  all  the  plains  and  mountains  built  up  of  them. 
Thus,  as  we  go  back  in  geological  time,  we  leave 
behind  us,  one  by  one,  all  the  things  with  which  we 


THE  GENESIS  OP  THE  EARTH.  3 

are  familiar,  and  the  inevitable  conclusion  gains  on  us 
that  we  must  be  approaching  a  beginning,  though  this 
may  be  veiled  from  us  in  clouds  and  thick  darkness. 
How  is  it,  then,  that  there  are  "  Uniformitarians"  in 
geology,  and  that  it  has  been  said  that  our  science 
shows  no  traces  of  a  beginning,  no  indications  of  an 
end  ?  The  question  deserves  consideration ;  but  the 
answer  is  not  difficult.  In  all  the  lapse  of  geological 
time  there  has  been  an  absolute  uniformity  of  natural 
law.  The  same  grand  machinery  of  force  and  matter 
has  been  in  use  throughout  all  the  ages,  working  out 
the  great  plan.  Yet  the  plan  has  been  progressive 
and  advancing,  nevertheless.  The  uniformity  has  been 
in  the  methods,  the  results  have  presented  a  wondrous 
diversity  and  development.  Again,  geology,  in  its 
oldest  periods,  fails  to  reach  the  beginning  of  things. 
It  shows  us  how  course  after  course  of  the  building 
has  been  laid,  and  how  it  has  grown  to  completeness, 
but  it  contains  as  yet  no  record  of  the  laying  of  the 
foundation-stones,  still  less  of  the  quarry  whence  they 
were  dug.  Still  the  constant  progress  which  we  have 
seen  points  to  a  beginning  which  we  have  not  seen; 
and  the  very  uniformity  of  the  process  by  which  tfye 
edifice  has  been  erected,  implies  a  time  when  it  had 
not  been  begun,  and  when  its  stones  were  still  repos- 
ing in  their  native  quarry. 

What,  then,  is  the  oldest  condition  of  the  earth 
actually  shown  to  us  by  geology, — that  which  pre- 
vailed in  the  Eozoic  or  Laurentian  period,  when  the 
oldest  rocks  known,  those  constituting  the  foundation* 


£  THE   STORY   OF   THE   EARTH   AND   MAN. 

stones  of  our  present  continents,  were  formed  and  laid 
in  their  places  ?  With  regard  to  physical  conditions, 
it  was  a  time  when  our  existing  continents  were  yet 
in  the  bosom  of  the  waters,  when  the  ocean  was  almost 
universal,  yet  when  sediments  were  being  deposited  in 
it  as  at  present,  while  there  were  also  volcanic  foci, 
vomiting  forth  molten  matter  from  the  earth's  hidden 
interior.  Then,  as  now,  the  great  physical  agencies  of 
water  and  fire  were  contending  with  one  another  for 
the  mastery,  doing  and  undoing,  building  up  and 
breaking  down.  But  is  this  all?  Has  the  earth  no 
earlier  history  ?  That  it  must  have  had,  we  may  infer 
from  many  indications ;  but  as  to  the  nature  of  these 
earlier  states,  we  can  learn  from  conjecture  and  in- 
ference merely,  and  must  have  recourse  to  other 
witnesses  than  those  rocky  monuments  which  are  the 
sure  guides  of  the  geologist. 

One  fact  bearing  on  these  questions  which  has  long 
excited  attention,  is  the  observed  increase  in  tempera- 
ture in  descending  into  deep  mines,  and  in  the  water 
of  deep  artesian  wells — an  increase  which  may  be 
stated  in  round  numbers  at  one  degree  of  heat  of  the 
centigrade  thermometer  for  every  100  feet  of  depth 
from  the  surface.  These  observations  apply  of  course 
fco  a  very  inconsiderable  depth,  and  we  have  no 
certainty  that  this  rate  continues  for  any  great  dis- 
tance towards  the  centre  of  the  earth.  If,  however, 
W9  regard  it  as  indicating  the  actual  law  of  increase 
of  temperature,  it  would  result  that  the  whole  crust 
of  the  earth  is  a  mere  shell  covering  a  molten  mass 


THE    GENESIS    OF    THE    EARTH.  5 

of  rocky  matter.  Thua  a  very  slight  step  of  imagi- 
nation would  carry  us  back  to  a  time  when  this  slende* 
crust  had  not  yet  formed,  and  the  earth  rolled  through 
space  an  incandescent  globe,  with  all  its  water  and 
other  vaporisable  matters  in  a  gaseous  state.  As- 
tronomical calculation  has,  however,  shown  that  the 
earth,  in  its  relation  to  the  other  heavenly  bodies, 
obeys  the  laws  of  a  rigid  ball,  and  not  of  a  fluid 
globe.  Hence  it  has  been  inferred  that  its  actual 
crust  must  be  very  thick,  perhaps  not  less  than  2,500 
miles,  and  that  its  fluid  portion  must  therefore  be  of 
smaller  dimensions  than  has  been  inferred  from  the 
observed  increase  of  temperature.  Further,  it  seema 
to  have  been  rendered  probable,  from  the  density 
of  rocky  matter  in  the  solid  and  liquid  states,  that 
a  molten  globe  would  solidify  at  the  centre  as  well 
as  at  the  surface,  and  consequently  that  the  earth 
must  not  only  have  a  solid  crust  of  great  thickness, 
but  also  a  solid  nucleus,  and  that  any  liquid  portions 
must  be  of  the  nature  of  a  sheet  or  of  detached 
masses  intervening  between  these.  On  the  other 
hand,  it  has  recently  been  maintained  that  the  calcu- 
lations which  are  supposed  to  have  established  the 
great  thickness  of  the  crust,  on  the  ground  that  the 
earth  does  not  change  its  form  in  obedience  to  the 
attraction  of  the  sun  and  moon,  are  based  on  a  mis- 
conception, and  that  a  molten  globe  with  a  thin  crust 
would  attain  to  such  a  state  of  equilibrium  in  this 
respect  as  not  to  be  distinguishable  from  a  solid 
planet.  This  view  has  been  maintained  by  the  French 


6        THE  STORY  OP  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

physicist,  Delaunay,  and  for  some  time  it  made  geo« 
legists  suppose  that,  after  all,  the  earth's  crust  may 
be  very  thin.  Sir  William  Thomson,  however,  and 
Archdeacon  Pratt,  have  ably  maintained  the  previous 
opinion,  based  on  Hopkins'  calculations;  and  it  is 
now  believed  that  we  may  rest  upon  this  as  repre- 
senting the  most  probable  condition  of  the  interior 
of  the  earth  at  present.  Another  fact  bearing  on 
this  point  is  the  form  of  the  earth,  which  is  now 
actually  a  spheroid  of  rotation;  that  is,  of  such  a 
shape  as  would  result  from  the  action  of  gravity  and 
centrifugal  force  in  the  motion  of  a  huge  liquid  drop 
rotating  in  the  manner  in  which  the  earth  rotates. 
Of  course  it  may  be  said  that  the  earth  may  have 
been  made  in  that  shape  to  fit  it  for  its  rotation ;  but 
science  prefers  to  suppose  that  the  form  is  the  result 
of  the  forces  acting  on  it.  This  consideration  would 
of  course  corroborate  the  deductions  from  that  just 
mentioned.  Again,  if  we  examine  a  map  showing  the 
distribution  of  volcanoes  upon  the  earth,  and  trace 
these  along  the  volcanic  belt  of  Western  America  and 
Eastern  Asia,  and  in  the  Pacific  Islands,  and  in  the 
isolated  volcanic  regions  in  other  parts  of  the  world ; 
and  if  we  add  to  these  the  multitude  of  volcanoes  now 
extinct,  we  shall  be  convinced  that  the  sources  of 
internal  heat,  of  which  these  are  the  vents,  must  be 
present  almost  everywhere  under  the  earth's  crust. 
Lastly,  if  we  consider  the  elevations  and  depressions 
which  large  portions  of  the  crust  of  the  earth  have 
undergone  in  geological  time,  and  the  actual  crump- 


THE    GENESIS    OP    THE    EA.RTH.  7 

ling  and  folding  of  the  crust  visible  in  great  mountain 
chains,  we  arrive  at  a  similar  conclusion,  and  also 
become  convinced  that  the  crust  has  been  not  too 
thick  to  admit  of  extensive  fractures,  flexures,  and 
foldings.  There  are,  however,  it  must  be  admitted, 
theories  of  volcanic  action,  strongly  supported  by  the 
chemical  nature  of  the  materials  ejected  by  modern 
volcanoes,  which  would  refer  all  their  phenomena  to 
the  softening,  under  the  continued  influence  of  heat 
and  water,  of  materials  within  the  crust  of  the  earth 
rather  than  under  it.*  Still,  the  phenomena  of  vol- 
canic action,  and  of  elevation  and  subsidence,  would, 
under  any  explanation,  suppose  intense  heat,  and 
therefore  probably  an  original  incandescent  condition. 
La  Place  long  ago  based  a  theory  of  the  originally 
gaseous  condition  of  the  solar  system  on  the  re- 
lation of  the  planets  to  each  other,  and  to  the  sun, 
on  their  planes  of  revolution,  the  direction  of  their 
revolution,  and  that  of  their  satellites.  On  these 
grounds  he  inferred  that  the  solar  system  had  been 
formed  out  of  a  nebulous  mass  by  the  mutual  attrac- 
tion of  its  parts.  This  view  was  further  strengthened 
by  the  discovery  of  nebulae,  which  it  might  be  sup- 
posed were  undergoing  the  same  processes  by  which 
the  solar  system  was  produced.  This  nebular  theory, 
as  it  was  called,  was  long  very  popular.  It  was 
subsequently  supposed  to  be  damaged  by  the  fact 
that  some  of  the  nebulas  which  had  been  regarded  as 
systems  in  progress  of  formation  were  found  by  ini- 
*  Dr.  T.  Sterry  Hunt,  in  Silliman'a  Journal,  1870. 


8 


THE    STORY    OJ?    THE    EARTH    AND    MAN. 


proved  telescopes  to  be  really  clusters  of  stars,  and 
it  was  inferred  that  the  'others  might  be  of  like 
character.  The  spectroscope  has,  however,  more 
recently  shown  that  some  nebulas  are  actually  gaseous ; 
and  it  has  even  been  attempted  to  demonstrate  that 


Figs.  1  to  5.     Ideal  sections  illustrating  the  Genesis  of  the  Earth. 

Fig.  1.  A  vaporous  world. 

Fig.  2.  A  world  with  a  central  fluid  nucleus  (b)  and  a  photosphere  (a). 

Fig.  3.  The  photosphere  darkened,  and  a  solid  crust  (c)  and  solid 
nucleus  (d)  formed. 

Fig.  4.  Water  (e)  deposited  on  the  crust,  forming  a  universal  ocean. 

Fig.  5.  The  crust  crumpled  by  shrinkage,  land  elevated,  and  the  water 
occupying  the  intervening  depressions. 

The  figures  are  all  of  uniform  size ;  but  the  circle  (A)  shows  th« 
diameter  of  the  globe  when  in  the  state  of  fig.  1,  and  that  marked  (B) 
its  diameter  when  in  the  state  of  fig.  5.  In  all  the  figures  (a)  represents 
Tapour  or  air;  (6)  liquid  rock;  (c)  solid  rock  as  a  crust;  (d)  solid 
nucleus ;  (e)  water. 


THE  GENESIS  OP  THE  EARTH.  9 

they  are  probably  undergoing  change  fitting  them  to 
become  systems.  This  has  served  to  revive  the 
nebular  hypothesis,  which  has  been  further  strength- 
ened by  the  known  fact  that  the  sun  is  still  an  incan- 
descent globe  surrounded  by  an  immense  luminous 
envelope  of  vapours  rising  from  its  nucleus  and  con- 
densing  at  its  surface.  0&.  the  other  hand,,  while  the 
sun  may  be  supposed,  from  its  great  magnitude,  to 
remain  intensely  heated,  and  while  it  will  not  be 
appreciably  less  powerful  for  myriads  of  years,  the 
moon  seems  to  be  a  body  which  has  had  time  to 
complete  the  whole  history  of  geological  change,  and 
to  become  a  dry,  dead,  and  withered  world,  a  type 
of  what  our  earth  would  in  process  of  time  actually 
become. 

Such  considerations  lead  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
former  watery  condition  of  our  planet  was  not  its  first 
state,  and  that  we  must  trace  it  back  to  a  previous 
reign  of  fire.  The  reasons  which  can  be  adduced 
in  support  of  this  are  no  doubt  somewhat  vague,  and 
may  in  their  details  be  variously  interpreted ;  but  at 
present  we  have  no  other  interpretation  to  give  of  that 
chaos,  formless  and  void,  that  state  in  which  anor 
aught  nor  nought  existed,"  which  the  sacred  writings 
and  the  traditions  and  poetry  of  ancient  nations  concur 
with  modern  science  in  indicating  as  the  primitivfi 
state  of  the  earth. 

Let  our  first  picture,  then,  be  that  of  a  vaporous 
mass,  representing  our  now  solid  planet  spread  out 
over  a  space  nearly  two  thousand  times  greater  in 


10  THE    STORY   OF   THE   EARTH   AND   MAN. 

diameter  than  that  which  it  now  occupies,  and  whirl- 
ing in  its  annual  round  about  the  still  vaporous  centre 
of  our  system,  in  which  at  an  earlier  period  the  earth 
had  been  but  an  exterior  layer,  or  ring  of  vapour. 
The  atoms  that  now  constitute  the  most  solid  rocks 
are  in  this  state  as  tenuous  as  air,  kept  apart  by  the 
expansive  force  of  heat,  which  prevents  not  only  their 
mechanical  union,  but  also  their  chemical  combination. 
But  within  the  mass,  slowly  and  silently,  the  force  of 
gravitation  is  compressing  the  particles  in  its  giant 
hand,  and  gathering  the  denser  toward  the  centre,  while 
heat  is  given  forth  on  all  sides  from  the  condensing 
mass  into  the  voids  of  space  without.  Little  by  little 
the  denser  and  less  volatile  matters  collect  in  the 
centre  as  a  fluid  molten  globe,  the  nucleus  of  the 
future  planet ;  and  in  this  nucleus  the  elements,  obey- 
ing their  chemical  affinities  hitherto  latent,  are  arrang- 
ing themselves  in  compounds  which  are  to  constitute 
the  future  rocks.  At  the  same  time,  in  the  exterior 
of  the  vaporous  envelope,  matters  cooled  by  radiation 
into  the  space  without,  are  combining  with  each  other, 
and  are  being  precipitated  in  earthy  rain  or  snow  into 
the  seething  mass  within,  where  they  are  either  again 
vaporised  and  sent  to  the  surface  or  absorbed  in  the 
increasing  nucleus.  As  this  process  advances,  a  new 
brilliancy  is  given  to  the  faint  shining  of  the  nebulous 
matter  by  the  incandescence  of  these  solid  particles  in 
the  upper  layers  of  its  atmosphere,  a  condition  which 
at  this  moment,  on  a  greater  scale,  is  that  of  the  sun ; 
in  the  case  of  the  earth,  so  much  smaller  in  volume, 


THE  GENESIS  OP  THE  EARTH.  11 

and  farther  from  the  centre  of  the  system,  it  came  on 
earlier,  and  has  long  since  passed  away.  This  was 
the  glorious  starlike  condition  of  our  globe :  in  a 
physical  point  of  view,  its  most  perfect  and  beautiful 
state,  when,  if  there  were  astronomers  with  telescopes 
in  the  stars,  they  might  have  seen  our  now  dull 
earth  flash  forth — a  brilliant  white  star  secondary  to 
the  suri. 

But  in  process  of  time  this  passes  away.  All  the 
more  solid  and  less  volatile  substances  are  condensed 
and  precipitated ;  and  now  the  atmosphere,  still  vast 
in  bulk,  and  dark  and  misty  in  texture,  contains  only 
the  water,  chlorine,  carbonic  acid,  sulphuric  acid,  and 
other  more  volatile  substances ;  and  as  these  gather  in 
dense  clouds  at  the  outer  surface,  and  pour  in  fierce 
corrosive  rains  upon  the  heated  nucleus,  combining 
with  its  materials,  or  flashing  again  into  vapour,  dark- 
ness dense  and  gross  settles  upon  the  vaporous  deep, 
and  continues  for  long  ages,  until  the  atmosphere  is 
finally  cleared  of  its  acid  vapours  and  its  superfluous 
waters.*  In  the  meantime,  radiation,  and  the  heat 
abstracted  from  the  liquid  nucleus  by  the  showers 
of  condensing  material  from  the  atmosphere,  have 
so  far  cooled  its  surface  that  a  crust  of  slag  or  cinder 
forms  upon  it.  Broken  again  and  again  by  the  heav- 
ings  of  the  ocean  of  fire,  it  at  length  sets  permanently, 
and  receives  upon  its  bare  and  blistered  surface  the 
ever-increasing  aqueous  and  acid  rain  thrown  down 

*  Hunt,  "Chemistry  of  the  Primeval  Earth,"   Silliman'i 
Journal,  1858. 

>   0?  THF,         > 


12  /THE    STORY    OF    THE    EAETH    AND    MAN. 

from  the  atmosphere,  at  first  sending  it  all  hissing  and 
steaming  back,  but  at  length  allowing  it  to  remain 
a  universal  boiling  ocean.  Then  began  the  reign  of 
the  waters,  and  the  dominion  of  fire  was  confined  to 
the  abysses  within  the  solid  crust.  Under  the  prime- 
val ocean  were  formed  the  first  stratified  rocks,  from 
the  substances  precipitated  from  its  waters,  which 
must  have  been  loaded  with  solid  matter.  We  must 
not  imagine  this  primeval  ocean  like  our  own  blue 
sea,  clear  and  transparent,  but  filled  with  earthy  and 
saline  matters,  thick  and  turbid,  until  these  were  per- 
mitted to  settle  to  the  bottom  and  form  the  first 
sediments.  The  several  changes  above  referred  to  are 
represented  in  diagrammatic  form  in  figs.  1  to  4. 

In  the  meantime  all  is  not  at  rest  in  the  interior  of 
the  new-formed  earth.  Under  the  crust  vast  oceans 
of  molten  rock  may  still  remain,  but  a  solid  interior 
nucleus  is  being  crystallised  in  the  centre,  and  the 
whole  interior  globe  is  gradually  shrinking.  At 
length  this  process  advances  so  far  that  the  exterior 
crust,  like  a  sheet  of  ice  from  below  which  the  water 
has  subsided,  is  left  unsupported;  and  with  terrible 
earthquake-throes  it  sinks  downward,  wrinkling  up 
into  huge  folds,  between  which  are  vast  sunken  areas 
into  which  the  waters  subside,  while  from  the  inter- 
vening ridges  the  earth's  pent-up  fires  belch  forth 
ashes  and  molten  rocks.  (Fig.  5.)  So  arose  the  first 
dry  land  : — 

"  The  mountains  huge  appear 
Emergent,  and  their  broad  bare  backs  upheave 


THE    GENESIS    OP    THE    EARTH.  13 

Into  the  clouds,  their  tops  ascend  the  sky, 
So  high  as  heaved  the  tumid  hills,  so  low 
Down  sunk  a  hollow  bottom,  broad  and  deep, 
Capacious  bed  of  waters." 

The  cloud  was  its  garmenf,  it  was  swathed  in  thick 
darkness,  and  presented  but  a  rugged  pile  of  rocky 
precipices ;  yet  well  might  the  "  morning  stars  sing 
together,  and  all  the  sons  of  God  shout  with  joy," 
when  its  foundations  were  settled  and  its  corner* 
stone  laid,  for  then  were  inaugurated  the  changes 
which  were  to  lead  to  the  introduction  of  life  on  the 
earth,  and  to  all  the  future  development  of  the  con- 
tinents. 

Physical  geographers  have  taught  us  that  the  great 
continents,  whether  we  regard  their  coasts  or  their 
mountain  chains,  are  built  up  on  lines  which  run 
north-east  and  south-west,  and  north-west  and  south- 
east ;  and  it  is  also  observed  that  these  lines  are  great 
circles  of  the  earth  tangent  to  the  polar  circle.  Fur- 
ther, we  find,  as  a  result  of  geological  investigation, 
that  these  lines  determined  the  deposition  and  the 
elevation  of  the  oldest  rocks  known  to  us.  Hence 
it  is  fair  to  infer  that  these  were  the  original  directions 
of  the  first  lines  of  fracture  and  upheaval.  Whether 
these  lines  were  originally  drawn  by  the  influence  of 
of  the  seasons  on  the  cooling  globe,  or  by  the  cur- 
rents of  its  molten  interior,  or  of  the  superficial 
ocean,  they  bespeak  a  most  uniform  and  equable 
texture  for  the  crust,  and  a  definite  law  of  fracture 
and  upheaval ;  and  they  have  modified  all  the  subse« 


14        THE  STOEY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

quent  action  of  the  ocean  as  a  depositor  of  sediment, 
and  of  the  internal  heat  as  a  cause  of  alteration  and 
movement  of  rocks.  Against  these  earliest  belts  of 
land  the  ocean  first  chafed  and  foamed.  Along  their 
margins  marine  denudation  first  commenced,  and  the 
oceanic  currents  first  deposited  banks  of  sediment ; 
and  along  these  first  lines  have  the  volcanic  orifices 
of  all  periods  been  most  plentiful,  and  elevatory  move- 
ments most  powerfully  felt. 

We  must  not  suppose  that  the  changes  thus  shortly 
sketched  were  rapid  and  convulsive.  They  must  have 
required  periods  of  enormous  duration,  all  of  which 
had  elapsed  before  the  beginning  of  geological  time, 
properly  so  called.  From  Sir  William  Thomson's 
calculations,  it  would  appear  that  the  time  which  has 
elapsed  from  the  first  formation  of  a  solid  crust  on  the 
earth  to  the  modern  period  may  have  been  from 
seventy  to  one  hundred  millions  of  years,  and  the 
whole  time  from  the  vaporous  condition  of  the  solar 
system  to  the  present,  must  of  course  have  been  still 
greater  than  even  this  enormous  series  of  ages.  Such 
a  lapse  of  time  is  truly  almost  inconceivable,  but  it  is 
only  a  few  days  to  Him  with  whom  one  day  is  as  a 
thousand  years,  and  a  thousand  years  as  one  day. 
How  many  and  strange  pictures  does  this  series  of 
processes  call  up  !  First,  the  uniform  vaporous  ne- 
bula. Then  the  formation  of  a  liquid  nucleus,  and  a 
brilliant  photosphere  without.  Then  the  congealing 
of  a  solid  crust  under  dark  atmospheric  vapours,  and 
the  raining  down  of  acid  and  watery  showers.  Then 


THE  GENESIS  OF  THE  EARTH.  15 

the  universal  ocean,  its  waves  rolling  unobstructed 
around  the  globe,  and  its  currents  following  without 
hindrance  the  leading  of  heat  and  of  the  earth's  rota- 
tion. Then  the  rupture  of  the  crust  and  the  emer- 
gence of  the  nuclei  of  continents. 

Some  persons  seem  to  think  that  by  these  long 
processes  of  creative  work  we  exclude  the  Creator,  and 
would  reduce  the  universe  into  a  mere  fortuitous 
concourse  of  atoms.  To  put  it  in  more  modern  phrase, 
"  given  a  quantity  of  detached  fragments  cast  into 
space,  then  mutual  gravitation  and  the  collision  of  the 
fragments  would  give  us  the  spangled  heavens."  But 
we  have  still  to  ask  the  old  question,  <(  Whence  the 
atoms?"  and  we  have  to  ask  it  with  all  the  added 
weight  of  our  modern  chemistry,  so  marvellous  in  its 
revelations  of  the  original  differences  of  matter  and 
their  varied  powers  of  combination.  We  have  to  ask, 
WTiat  is  gravitation  itself,  unless  a  mode  of  action  of 
Almighty  power  ?  We  have  to  ask  for  the  origin  of 
of  thousands  of  correlations,  binding  together  the  past 
and  the  future  in  that  orderly  chain  of  causes  and 
effects  which  constitutes  the  plan  of  the  creation.  If 
it  pleased  God  to  create  in  the  beginning  an  earth 
"  formless  and  void/'  and  to  elaborate  from  this  all 
that  has  since  existed,  who  are  we,  to  say  that  the 
plan  was  not  the  best  ?  Nor  would  it  detract  from 
our  view  of  the  creative  wisdom  and  power  if  we  were 
to  hold  that  in  ages  to  come  the  sun  may  experience 
the  same  change  that  has  befallen  the  earth,  and  may 
become  ff  black  as  sackcloth  of  hair,"  preparatory 


It)       THE  STORY  OF  THE  EAETH  AND  MAN. 

perhaps,  to  changes  which  may  make  him  also  the 
abode  of  life;  or  if  the  earth,  cooling  still  further, 
should,  like  our  satellite  the  moon,  absorb  all  its 
waters  and  gases  into  its  bosom,  and  become  bare, 
dry,  and  parched,  until  there  shall  be  "  no  more  sea/' 
how  do  we  know  but  that  then  there  shall  be  no 
mbre  need  of  the  sun,  because  a  better  light  may  be 
provided  ?  Or  that  there  may  not  be  a  new  baptism 
of  fire  in  store  for  the  earth,  whereby,  being  melted 
with  fervent  heat,  it  may  renew  its  youth  in  the  fresh 
and  heavenly  loveliness  of  a  new  heaven  and  a  new 
earth,  free  from  all  the  evils  and  imperfections  of  the 
present  ?  God  is  not  slack  in  these  things,  as  some 
men  count  slackness ;  b'ut  His  ways  are  not  like  our 
ways.  He  has  eternity  wherein  to  do  His  work,  and 
takes  His  own  time  for  each  of  His  operations.  The 
Divine  wisdom,  personified  by  a  sacred  writer,  may 
well  in  this  exalt  his  own  office  : — 

"  Jehovah  possessed  me  in  the  beginning  of  His  way, 
Before  His  work  of  old. 
I  was  set  up  from  everlasting, 
From  the  beginning,  or  ever  the  earth  was. 
When  there  were  no  deeps,  T  was  brought  forth; 
When  there  were  no  fountains  abounding  in  water. 
Before  the  mountains  were  settled, 
Before  the  hills,  was  I  brought  forth  : 
While  as  yet  He  had  not  made  the  earth, 
Nor  the  plains,  nor  the  higher  part  of  the  habitable  world, 
When  He  gave  the  sea  His  decree, 
That  her  waters  should  not  pass  His  limits  ; 
When  He  determined  the  foundations  of  the  earth." 


CHAPTER  H. 

THE     EOZOIG     AGES. 

THE  dominion  of  heat  has  passed  away;  the  excess 
of  water  has  been  precipitated  from  the  atmc  sphere, 
and  now  covers  the  earth  as  a  universal  ocean.  The 
crust  has  folded  itself  into  long  ridges,  the  bed  of  the 
waters  has  subsided  into  its  place,  and  the  sea  for  the 
first  time  begins  to  rave  against  the  shores  of  the 
newly  elevated  land,  while  the  rain,  washing  the  bare 
surfaces  of  rocky  ridges,  carries  its  contribution  of 
the  slowly  wasting  rocks  back  into  the  waters  whence 
they  were  raised,  forming,  with  the  material  worn  from 
the  crust  by  the  surf,  the  first  oceanic  sediments. 
Do  we  know  any  of  these  earliest  aqueous  beds,  or 
are  they  all  hidden  from  view  beneath  newer  deposits, 
or  have  they  been  themselves  worn  away  and  de- 
stroyed by  denuding  agencies  ?  Whether  we  know 
the  earliest  formed  sediments  is,  and  may  always 
remain,  uncertain ;  but  we  do  know  certain  very 
ancient  rocks  which  may  be  at  least  their  immediate 
successors. 

Deepest  and  oldest  of  all  the  rocks  we  are  ac- 
quainted with  in  the  crust  of  the  earth,  are  certain 
beds  much  altered  and  metamorphosed,  baked  by 
the  joint  action  of  heat  and  heated  moisture — rocka 

once   called   Azoic,  as  containing   no   traces   of  life, 

2* 


18 


THE  STOEY  OP  THE  EARTH  AND  MAK 


but  for  winch  I  have  elsewhere  proposed  the  name 
"  Eozoic,"  or  those  that  afford  the  traces  of  the 
earliest  known  living  beings.  These  rocks  are  the 
Laurentian  Series  of  Sir  William  Logan,  so  named 
from  the  Laurentide  hills,  north  of  the  River  St. 
Lawrence,  which  are  composed  of  these  ancient  beds, 
and  where  they  are  more  largely  exposed  than  in 
any  other  region.  It  may  seem  at  first  sight 
strange  that  any  of  these  ancient  rocks  should  bo 
found  at  the  surface  of  the  earth;  but  this  is  a 


Pig.  6.  The  Latirentian  nucleus  of  the  American  continent. 

necessary  result  of  the  mode  of  formation  of  the 
continents.  The  oldest  rocks,  thrown  up  in  places 
into  high  ridges,  have  either  not  been  again  brought 


THE    EOZOIC   AGES.  19 

under  the  waters,  or  have  lost  by  denudation  the 
sediments  once  resting  on  them;  and  being  of  a 
hard  and  resisting  nature,  still  remain;  and  often 
rise  into  hills  of  considerable  elevation,  showing 
as  it  were  portions  of  the  skeleton  of  the  earth 
protruding  through  its  superficial  covering.  Such 
rocks  stretch  along  the  north  side  of  the  St.  Lawrence 
river  from  Labrador  to  Lake  Superior,  and  thence 
northwardly  to  an  unknown  distance,  constituting 
a  wild  and  rugged  district  often  rising  into  hills 
4000  feet  high,  and  in  the  deep  gorge  of  the 
Saguenay  forming  cliffs  1,500  feet  in  sheer  height 
from  the  water's  edge.  South  of  this  great  ridge, 
the  isolated  mass  of  the  Adirondack  Mountains 
rises  to  the  height  of  6,000  feet,  rivalling  the  newer, 
though  still  very  ancient,  chain  of  the  White  Moun- 
tains. Along  the  eastern  coast  of  North  America, 
a  lower  ridge  of  Laurentian  rock,  only  appearing 
here  and  there  from  under  the  overlying  sediments, 
is  seen  in  Newfoundland,  in  New  Brunswick,  pos- 
sibly in  Nova  Scotia,  and  perhaps  farther  south  in 
Massachusetts,  and  as  far  as  Maryland.  In  the  old 
world,  rocks  of  this  age  do  not,  so  far  as  known, 
appear  so  extensively.  They  have  been  recognised 
in  Norway  and  Sweden,  in  the  Hebrides,  and  in 
Bavaria,  and  may,  no  doubt,  be  yet  discerned  in 
other  localities.  Still,  the  grandest  and  most 
instructive  development  of  these  rocks  is  in  North 
America;  and  it  is  there  that  we  may  best  investi- 
gate their  nature,"  and  endeavour  to  restore  the 


20        THE  STORY  OP  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

conditions  in  which  they  were  deposited.  It  has 
been  .already  stated  that  the  oldest  wrinkles  of  the 
crust  of  the  globe  take  the  direction  of  great  circles 
of  the  ea/th  tangent  to  the  polar  circle,  forming 
north-east  and  south-west,  and  north-west  and  south- 
east lines.  To  such  lines  are  the  great  exposures  of 
Laurentian  rock  conformed,  as  may  be  well  seen 
from  the  map  of  North  America  (fig.  6),  taken  from 
Dana,  with  some  additions.  The  great  angular 
Laurentian  belt  is  evidently  the  nucleus  of  the  con- 
tinent, and  consists  of  two  broad  bands  or  ridges 
meeting  in  the  region  of  the  great  lakes.  The 
remaining  exposures  are  parallel  to  these,  and  appeal- 
to  indicate  a  subordinate  coast-line  of  comparatively 
little  elevation.  It  is  known  that  these  Laurentian 
exposures  constitute  the  oldest  part  of  the  continent, 
a  part  which  was  land  before  any  of  the  rocks  of  the 
shaded  portion  of  the  map  were  deposited  in  the 
bed  of  the  ocean — all  this  shaded  portion  being 
composed  of  rocks  of  various  geological  ages  resting 
on  the  older  Laurentian.  It  is  further  to  be  observed 
that  the  beds  occurring  in  the  Laurentian  bands  are 
crumpled  and  folded  in  a  most  remarkable  manner, 
and  that  these  folds  were  impressed  upon  them  before 
the  deposition  of  the  rocks  next  in  geological  age. 

What  then  are  these  oldest  rocks  deposited  by  the 
sea — the  firstborn  of  the  reign  of  the  waters  ?  They 
are  very  different  in  their  external  aspect  from  the 
fdlt  and  mud,  the  sand  and  gravel,  and  the  shell 
and  coral  rocks  of  the  modern  sea,  or  of  the  more 


THE    EOZOIC   AGES.  21 

recent  geological  formations.  Yet  the  difference  is 
one  in  condition  rather  than  composition.  The 
members  of  this  ancient  aristocracy  of  the  rocks 
are  made  of  the  same  clay  with  their  fellows,  but 
have  been  subjected  to  a  refining  and  crystallizing 
process  which  has  greatly  changed  their  condition. 
They  have  been,  as  geologists  say,  metamorphosed; 
and  are  to  ordinary  rocks  what  a  china  vase  is  to 
the  lump  of  clay  from  which  it  has  been  made. 
Deeply  buried  in  the  earth  under  newer  sediments, 
they  have  been  baked,  until  sandstones,  gravels,  and 
clays  came  out  bright  and  crystalline,  as  gneiss, 
mica- schist,  hornblende-schist,  and  quartzite — all 
hard  crystalline  rocks  showing  at  first  sight  no 
resemblance  to  their  original  material,  except  in  the 
regularly  stratified  or  bedded  arrangement  which 
serves  to  distinguish  them  from  igneous  or  volcanic 
rocks.  In  like  manner  certain  finer,  calcareous  sedi- 
ments have  been  changed  into  Labrador  feldspar, 
sometimes  gay  with  a  beautiful  play  of  colour,  and 
what  were  once  common  limestones  appear  as  cry- 
stalline marble.  If  the  evidence  of  such  metamor- 
phoses is  asked  for,  this  is  twofold.  In  the  first 
place,  these  rocks  are  similar  in  structure  to  more 
modern  beds  which  have  been  partially  metamor- 
phosed, and  in  which  the  transition  from  the  unaltered 
to  the  altered  state  can  be  observed.  Secondly, 
there  are  limited  areas  in  the  Laurentian  itself,  in 
which  the  metamorphism  has  been  so  imperfect  as 
to  permit  traces  of  the  original  character  of  the  rocka 


22       THE  STORY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

fco  remain.  It  seems  also  quite  certain,  and  this 
is  a  most  important  point  for  our  sketch,  that  the 
Lauren!  ian  ocean  was  not  universal,  but  that  there 
were  already  elevated  portions  of  the  crust  capable 
of  yielding  sediment  to  the  sea. 

In  North  America  these  Laurentian  rocks  attain 
to  an  enormous  thickness.  This  has  been  estimated 
by  Sir  W.  E.  Logan  at  30,000  feet,  so  that  the  beds 
would,  if  piled  on  each  other  horizontally,  be  as  high 
as  the  highest  mountains  on  earth.  They  appear  to 
consist  of  two  great  series,  the  Lower  and  Upper 
Laurentian.  Even  if  we  suppose  that  in  the  earlier 
stages  of  the  world's  history  erosion  and  deposition 
were  somewhat  more  rapid  than  at  present,  the 
formation  of  such  deposits,  probably  more  widely 
spread  than  any  that  succeeded  them,  must  have 
required  an  enormous  length  of  time. 

Geologists  long  looked  in  vain  for  evidences  of  life 
in  the  Laurentian  period ;  but  just  as  astronomers' 
have  suspected  the  existence  of  unknown  planets 
from  the  perturbations  due  to  their  attraction,  geolo- 
gists have  guessed  that  there  must  have  been  some 
living  things  on  earth  even  at  this  early  time.  Dana 
and  Sterry  Hunt  especially  have  committed  them- 
selves to  such  speculations.  The  reasons  for  this 
belief  may  be  stated  thus:  (1.)  In  later  formations 
limestone  is  usually  an  organic  rock,  produced  by  the 
accumulation  of  shells,  corals,  and  similar  calcareous 
organisms  in  the  sea,  and  there  are  enormous  lime- 
stones in  the  Laurentian,  constituting  regular  beds 


THE    EOZOIC   AGES.  23 

(2.)  In  later  formations  coaly  matter  is  an  organic 
substance,  derived  from  vegetables,  and  there  are 
large  quantities  of  Laurentian  carbon  in  the  form  of 
graphite.  (3.)  In  later  formations  deposits  of  iron 
ores  are  almost  always  connected  with  the  deoxidising 
influence  of  organic  matters  as  an  efficient  cause  of 
their  accumulation,  and  the  Laurentian  contains  im- 
mense deposits  of  iron  ore,  occurring  in  layers  in  the 
manner  of  later  deposits  of  these  minerals.  (4.)  The 
limestone,  carbon,  and  iron  of  the  Laurentian  exist 
in  association  with  the  other  beds  in  the  same  manner 
as  in  the  later  formations  in  which  they  are  known  to 
be  organic. 

In  addition  to  this  inferential  evidence,  however, 
one  well-marked  animal  fossil  has  at  length  been 
found  in  the  Laurentian  of  Canada,  Eozoon  Canadense, 
(fig.  7),  a  gigantic  representative  of  one  of  the  lowest 
forms  of  animal  life,  which  the  writer  had  the  honour 
of  naming  and  describing  in  1865 — its  name  of 
"  Dawn-animal "  having  reference  to  its  great  an- 
tiquity and  possible  connection  with  the  dawn  of  life 
on  our  p]anet.  In  the  modern  seas,  among  the 
multitude  of  low  forms  of  life  with  which  they  swarm, 
occur  some  in  which  the  animal  matter  is  a  mere 
jelly,  almost  without  distinct  parts  or  organs,  yet  un- 
questionably endowed  with  life  of  an  animal  character. 
Some  of  these  creatures,  the  Foraminifera,  have  the 
power  of  secreting  at  the  surface  of  their  bodies  a 
calcareous  shell,  often  divided  into  numerous  cham- 
bers, communicating  with  each  other,  and  with  the 


24 


THE  STORY  OF  THE  EAETH  AND  MAN. 


water  without,  by  pores  or  orifices  through  which,  the 
animal  can  extend  soft  and  delicate  prolongations  of 
its  gelatinous  body,  which,  when  stretched  out  into 
the  water,  serve  for  arms  and  legs.  In  modern  times 


Fig.  7.  Eozoon  Canadense.     Dawson. 

The  oldest  known  animal.     Portion  of  skeleton,  two-thirds  natural  size,     (a) 
Tabulated  cell-wall,  magnified,     (b)  Portion  of  canal  system,  magnified. 

these  creatures,  though  extremely  abundant  in  the 
ocean,  are  usually  small,  often  microscopic  ;  but  in  a 
fossil  state  there  are  others  of  somewhat  larger  size, 
though  few  equalling  the  Eozoon,  which  seems  to 
been  a  sessile  creature,  resting  on  the  bottom  of 


THE    EOZOIC   AGES.  25 

the  sea,  and  covering  its  gelatinous  body  with  a  thin 
crust  of  carbonate  of  lime  or  limestone,  adding  to  this, 
as  it  grew  in  size,  crust  after  crust,  attached  to  each 
other  by  numerous  partitions,  and  perforated  with 
pores  for  the  emission  of  gelatinous  filaments.  This 
continued  growth  of  gelatinous  animal  matter  and 
carbonate  of  lime  went  on  from  age  to  age,  accumu- 
lating great  beds  of  limestone,  in  some  of  which  the 
entire  form  and  most  minute  structures  of  the  creature 
are  preserved,  while  in  other  cases  the  organisms  have 
been  broken  up,  and  the  limestones  are  a  mere  con- 
geries of  their  fragments.  It  is  a  remarkable  instance 
of  the  permanence  of  fossils,  that  in  these  ancient 
organisms  the  minutest  pores  through  which  the 
semi-fluid  matter  of  these  humble  animals  passed, 
have  been  preserved  in  the  most  delicate  perfection. 
The  existence  of  such  creatures  supposes  that  of  other 
organisms,  probably  microscopic  plants,  on  which  they 
could  feed.  No  traces  of  these  have  been  observed, 
though  the  great  quantity  of  carbon  in  the  beds 
probably  implies  the  existence  of  larger  seaweeds. 
No  other  form  of  animal  has  yet  been  distinctly 
recognized  in  the  Laurentian  limestones,  but  there  are 
fragments  of  calcareous  matter  which  may  have  be- 
longed to  organisms  distinct  from  Eozoon.  Of  life  on 
the  Laurentian  land  we  know  nothing,  unless  the 
great  beds  of  iron  ore  already  referred  to  may  be 
taken  as  a  proof  of  land  vegetation.* 

*  It  is  proper  to  state  here  that  some  geologists  and  natural- 
ists still  doubt  the  organic  nature  of  Eozoon.     Their  objections 


26        THE  STORY  OP  THE  EAETH  AND  MAN. 

To  an  observer  in  the  Laurentian  period,  the  earth 
would  have  presented  an  almost  boundless  ocean,  its 
waters,  perhaps,  still  warmed  with  the  internal  heat, 
and  sending  up  copious  exhalations  to  be  condensed  in 
thick  clouds  and  precipitated  in  rain.  Here  and  there 
might  be  seen  chains  of  rocky  islands,  many  of  them 
volcanic,  or  ranges  of  bleak  hills,  perhaps  clothed  with 
vegetation  the  forms  of  which  are  unknown  to  us.  In 
the  bottom  of  the  sea,  while  sand  and  mud  and  gravel 
were  being  deposited  in  successive  layers  in  some 
portions  of  the  ocean  floor,  in  others  great  reefs  of 
Eozoon  were  growing  up  in  the  manner  of  reefs  of  coral. 
If  we  can  imagine  the  modern  Pacific,  with  its  volcanic 
islands  and  reefs  of  coral,  to  be  deprived  of  all  other 
forms  of  life, 'we  should  have  a  somewhat  accurate 
picture  of  the  Eozoic  time  as  it  appears  to  us  now. 
I  say  as  it  appears  to  us  now ;  for  we  do  not  know 
what  new  discoveries  remain  to  be  made.  More 
especially  the  immense  deposits  of  carbon  and  iron  in 
the  Laurentian  would  seem  to  bespeak  a  profusion  of 
plant  life  in  the  sea  or  on  the  land,  or  both,  second  to 
that  of  no  other  period  that  succeeded,  except  that 
of  the  great  coal  formation.  Perhaps  no  remnant  of 
this  primitive  vegetation  exists  retaining  its  form  or 
structure;  but  we  may  hope  for  better  things,  and 

however,  so  far  as  stated  publicly,  have  been  shown  to  depend 
on  misapprehension  as  to  the  structures  observed  and  their 
state  of  preservation ;  and  specimens  recently  found  in  com- 
paratively unaltered  rocks  have  indicated  the  true  character  ol 
those  me  re  altered  by  metamorphism. 


THE    EOZOIC   AGES.  27 

cherish  the  expectation  that  some  fortunate  discovery 
may  still  reveal  to  us  the  forms  of  the  vegetation  of 
the  Laurentian  time. 

It  is  remarkable  that  the  humbly  organized  living 
things  which  built  up  the  Laurentian  limestones  have 
continued  to  exist  unchanged,  save  in  dimensions,  up 
to  modern  times ;  and  here  and  there  throughout  the 
geological  series  we  find  beds  of  Foraminiferous  lime- 
stone, similar,  except  in  the  species  of  Foraminifera 
composing  them,  to  that  of  the  Laurentian.  It  is 
true  that  other  kinds  of  creatures,  the  coral  animals 
more  particularly,  have  been  introduced,  and  have 
proved  equally  efficient  builders  of  limestones;  but 
in  the  deeper  parts  of  the  sea  the  Foraminifera  con- 
tinue to  assert  their  pre-eminence  in  this  respect,  and 
the  dredge  reveals  in  the  depths  of  our  modern  oceans 
beds  of  calcareous  matter  which  may  be  regarded  as 
identical  in  origin  with  the  limestones  formed  in  the 
period  which  is  to  us  the  dawn  of  organic  life. 

Many  inquiries  suggest  themselves  to  the  zoologist 
in  connection  with  the  life  of  the  Laurentian  period. 
Was  Eozoon  the  first  creature  in  which  the  wondrous 
forces  of  animal  life  were  manifested,  when,  in  obe- 
dience to  the  Divine  fiat,  the  waters  first  " swarmed 
with  swarmers,"  as  the  terse  and  expressive  language 
of  the  Mosaic  record  phrases  it  ?  If  so,  in  contem- 
plating this  organism  we  are  in  the  presence  of  one  of 
the  greatest  of  natural  wonders — brought  nearer  than 
in  any  other  case  to  the  actual  workshop  of  the 
Almighty  Maker.  Still  we  cannot  affirm  that  other 


28  THE    STORY    OF   THE    EAKTH    AND    MAN. 

creatures  even  more  humble  may  not  have  preceded 
Eozoon,  since  such  humble  organisms  are  known  in 
the  present  world.  Attempts  have  often  been  made, 
and  very  recently  have  been  renewed  with  much  affir- 
mation of  success,  to  prove  that  such  low  forms  of  life 
may  originate  spontaneously  from  their  materials  in 
the  waters ;  but  so  far  these  attempts  merely  prove 
that  the  invisible  germs  of  the  lower  animals  and 
plants  exist  everywhere,  and  that  they  have  marvellous 
powers  of  resisting  extreme  heat  and  other  injurious 
influences.  We  need  not,  therefore,  be  surprised  if 
even  lower  forms  than  Eozoon  may  have  preceded 
that  creature,  or  if  some  of  these  may  be  found,  like 
the  organisms  said  to  live  in  modern  boiling  springs, 
to  have  had  the  power  of  existing  even  at  a  time 
when  the  ocean  may  have  been  almost  in  a  state  of 
ebullition.  Another  problem  is  that  of  means  of 
subsistence  for  the  Eozoic  Foraminifera.  A  similar 
problem  exists  in  the  case  of  the  modern  ocean,  in 
whose  depths  live  multitudes  of  creatures,  where,  so 
far  as  we  know,  vegetable  matter,  ordinarily  the 
basis  of  life,  cannot  exist  in  a  living  condition.  It  is 
probable,  however,  from  the  researches  of  Dr.  Wyville 
Thompson,  that  this  is  to  be  accounted  for  by  the 
abundance  of  life  at  the  surface  and  in  the  shallower 
parts  of  the  sea,  and  by  the  consequent  diffusion 
through  the  water  of  organic  matter  in  an  extremely 
tenuous  state,  but  yet  sufficient  to  nourish  these 
creatures.  The  same  may  have  been  the  case  in  the 
Eozoic  sea,  where,  judging  from  the  vast  amount  of 


T3E    EOZOTC    AGES.  29 

residual  carbon,  there  must  have  been  abundance  of 
organic  matter,  either  growing  at  the  bottom,  or 
falling  upon  it  from  the  surface ;  and  as  the  Eozooii 
limestones  are  usually  free  from  such  material,  we  may 
assume  that  the  animal  life  in  them  was  sufficient  to 
consume  the  vegetable  pabulum.  On  the  other  hand, 
as  detached  specimens  of  Eozoon  occur  in  graphitic 
limestones,  we  suppose  that  in  some  cases  the  vege- 
table matter  was  in  excess  of  the  animal,  and  this  may 
have  been  either  because  of  its  too  great  exuberance, 
or  because  the  water  was  locally  too  shallow  to  permit 
Eozoon  and  similar  creatures  to  nourish.  These 
details  we  must  for  the  present  fill  up  conjecturally  ; 
bu£  the  progress  of  discovery  may  give  us  further 
light  as  to  the  precise  conditions  of  the  beginning  of 
life  in  the  "  great  and  wide  sea  wherein  are  moving 
things  innumerable/''  and  which  is  as  much  a  wonder 
now  as  in  the  days  of  the  author  of  the  "  Hymn  of 
Creation/'*  in  regard  to  the  life  that  swarms  in  all 
its  breadth  and  depth,  the  vast  variety  of  that  life, 
and  its  low  and  simple  types,  of  which  we  can  affirm 
little  else  than  that  they  move. 

The  enormous  accumulations  of  sediment  on  the 
still  thin  crust  of  the  earth  in  the  Laurentian  period 
— accumulations  probably  arranged  in  lines  parallel 
to  the  directions  of  disturbance  already  indicated — 
weighed  down  the  surface,  and  caused  great  masses 
of  the  sediment  to  come  within  the  influence  of  the 
heated  interior  nucleus.  Thus,  extensive  meta- 
*  Psalm  civ. 


30  THE    STORY    OF    THE    EARTH    AND    MAN. 

morphism  took  place,  and  at  length  the  tension 
becoming  too  great  to  be  any  longer  maintained,  a 
second  great  collapse  occurred,  crumpling  and  dis- 
turbing" the  crust,  and  throwing .  up  vast  masses  of 
the  Laurentian  itself,  probably  into  lofty  mountains 
— many  of  which  still  remain  of  considerable  height, 
though  they  have  been  subjected  to  erosion  through- 
out all  the  extent  of  subsequent  geological  time. 

The  Eozoic  age,  whose  history  we  have  thus  shortly 
sketched,  is  fertile  in  material  of  thought  for  the 
geologist  and  the  naturalist.  Until  the  labours  of 
Murchison,  Sedgwick,  Hall,  and  Barrande  had  de- 
veloped the  vast  thickness  and  organic  richness  of  the 
Silurian  and  Cambrian  rocks,  no  geologist  had  any 
idea  of  the  extent  to  which  life  had  reached  backward 
in  time.  But  when  this  new  and  primitive  world  of 
Siluria  was  unveiled,  men  felt  assured  that  they  had 
now  at  last  reached  to  the  beginnings  of  life.  The 
argument  on  this  side  of  the  Question  was  thus  put 
by  one  of  the  most  thoughtful  of  English  geologists, 
Professor  Phillips  :  "  It  is  ascertained  that  in  passing 
downwards  through  the  lower  Palaeozoic  strata,  the 
forms  of  life  grow  fewer  and  fewer,  until  in  the  lowest 
Cambrian  rocks  they  vanish  entirely.  In  the  thick 
series  of  these  strata  in  the  Longmynd,  hardly  any 
traces  of  life  occur,  yet  these  strata  are  of  such  a  kind 
as  might  be  expected  to  yield  them.  .  .  .  The 
materials  are  fine-grained  or  arenaceous,  with  or  with- 
out mica,  in  laminae  or  beds  quite  distinct,  and  of 
various  thicknesses,  by  no  means  unlikely  to  retain 


THE    EOZOIC    AGES.  31 

impressions  of  a  delicate  nature,  such  as  those  left  by 
graptolites,  or  mollusks,  or  annulose  crawlers.  Indeed, 
one  or  two  such  traces  are  supposed  to  have  been 
recognised,  so  that  the  almost  total  absence  of  the 
traces  of  life  in  this  enormous  series  is  best  understood 
by  the  supposition  that  in  these  parts  of  the  sea  little 
or  no  life  existed.  But  the  same  remark  of  the  ex- 
cessive rarity  of  life  in  the  lower  deposits  is  made  in 
North  America,  in  Norway,  and  in  Bohemia,  countries 
well  searched  for  this  very  purpose,  so  that  all  our 
observations  lead  to  the  conviction  that  the  lowest  of 
all  the  strata  are  quite  deficient  of  organic  remains. 
The  absence  is  general — it  appears  due  to  a  general 
cause.  Is  it  not  probable  that  during  these  very  early 
periods  the  ocean  and  its  sediments  were  nearly- 
devoid  of  plants  and  animals,  and  in  the  earliest  time 
of  all,  which  is  represented  by  sediments,  quite  de- 
prived of  such  ?  "  These  words  were  written  ten  years 
ago,  and  about  the  same  time  were  published  in 
America  those  anticipations  of  the  probability  of  life 
in  the  Laurentian  already  referred  to,  and  Lyell  was 
protesting  against  the  name  Primordial,  on  the  ground 
that  it  implied  that  we  had  reached  the  beginning 
of  life,  when  this  was  not  proved.  Yet  there  were 
elements  of  truth  in  both  views.  It  is  true  now,  as 
then,  that  the  Primordial  seems  to  be  a  morning  hour  y 
of  life,  having,  as  we  shall  see  in  our  next  paper,  un- 
mistakable signs  about  it  of  that  approach  to  the 
beginning  to  which  Phillips  refers.  It  is  also  true 
tlrnt  it  is  not  so  early  a  morning  hour  as  one  who  has 


32  1HE    STORY   Of   THE    EARTH   AND   MAN. 

not  risen  with  the  dawn  might  suppose,  since  with  ita 
apparently  small  beginnings  of  life  it  is  almost  as  far 
removed  from  the  Eozoon  reefs  of  the  early  Lauren- 
tian  on  the  one  hand,  as  it  is  from  the  modern  period 
on  the  other.  The  dawn  of  life  seems  to  have  been 
a  very  slow  and  protracted  process,  and  it  may  have 
required  as  long  a  time  between  the  first  appearance 
of  Eozoon  and  the  first  of  those  primordial  Trilobites 
which  the  next  period  will  introduce  to  our  notice, 
as  between  these  and  the  advent  of  Adam.  Perhaps 
no  lesson  is  more  instructive  than  this  as  to  the  length 
of  the  working  days  of  the  Almighty. 

Another  lesson  lies  ready  for  us  in  these  same  facts. 
Theoretically,  plants  should  have  preceded  animals; 
and  this  also  is  the  assertion  of  the  first  chapter  of 
Genesis ;  but  the  oldest  fossil  certainly  known  to  us 
is  an  animal.  What  if  there  were  still  earlier  plants, 
whose  remains  are  still  to  be  discovered  ?  For  my 
own  part,  I  can  see  no  reason  to  despair  of  the 
discovery  of  an  Eophytic  period  preceding  the  Eozoic; 
perhaps  preceding  it  through  ages  of  duration  to  us 
almost  immeasurable,  though  still  within  the  possible 
time  of  the  existence  of  the  crust  of  the  earth.  It 
is  even  possible  that  in  a  warm  and  humid  condition 
of  the  atmosphere,  before  it  had  been  caused  "  to 
rain  upon  the  earth/'  and  when  dense  "mists  as- 
cended from  the  earth  and  watered  the  whole  surface 
fif  the  ground,"*  vegetation  may  have  attained  to  a 

*  Oenesis  ii.  5.  For  a  description  of  this  Eophytic  period  of 
Genesis,  see  the  Author's  "  Archaia,"  pp.  160  et  seq. 


THE   EOZOIC   AGES,  83 

profusion  and  grandeur  unequalled  in  the  periods 
whose  flora  is  known  to  us. 

But  while  Bozoon  thus  preaches  of  progress  and  of 
development,  it  has  a  tale  to  tell  of  unity  and  same- 
ness. Just  as  Eozoon  lived  in  the  Laurentian  sea, 
and  was  preserved  for  us  by  the  infiltration  of  its 
canals  with  siliceous  mineral  matters,  so  its  suc- 
cessors and  representatives  have  gone  on  through  all 
the  ages  accumulating  limestone  in  the  sea  bottom. 
To-day  they  are  as  active  as  they  were  then,  and  are 
being  fossilised  in  the  same  way.  The  English  chalk 
and  the  chalky  modern  mud  of  the  Atlantic  sea-bed, 
are  precisely  similar  in  origin  to  the  Eozoic  lime- 
stones. There  is  also  a  strange  parallelism  in  the  fact 
that  in  the  modern  seas  Foraminifera  can  live  under 
conditions  of  deprivation  of  light  and  vital  air,  and 
of  enormous  pressure,  under  which  few  organisms 
of  greater  complexity  could  exist,  and  that  in  like 
manner  Eozoon  could  live  in  seas  which  were  perhaps 
as  yet  unfit  for  most  other  forms  of  life. 

It  has  been  attempted  to  press  the  Eozoic  Forami- 
nifers  into  the  service  of  those  theories  of  evolution 
which  would  deduce  the  animals  of  one  geological 
period  by  descent  with  modification  from  those  of 
another  \  but  it  must  be  confessed  that  Eozoon  proves 
somewhat  intractable  in  this  connection.  In  the  first 
place,  the  creature  is  the  grandest  of  his  class,  both 
in  form  and  structure;  and  if,  on  the  hypothesis  of 
derivation,  it  has  required  the  whole  lapse  of  geo- 
logical time  to  disintegrate  Eozoon  into  Orbulina, 


34       THE  STORY  OF  THE  EAETH  AND  MAN. 

Globigerina,  and  other  comparatively  simple  Forami* 
nifers  of  the  modern  seas,  it  may  have  taken  as  long, 
probably  much  longer,  to  develop  Eozoon  from  such 
simple  forms  in  antecedent  periods.  Time  fails  for 
such  a  process.  Again,  the  deep  sea  has  been  the 
abode  of  Foraminifers  from  the  first.  In  this  deep 
sea  they  have  continued  to  live  without  improvement, 
and  with 'little  material  change.  How  little  likely  is 
it  that  in  less  congenial  abodes  they  could  have  im- 
proved into  higher  grades  of  being ;  especially  since 
we  know  that  the  result  in  actual  fact  of  any  such 
struggle  for  existence  is  merely  the  production  of 
depauperated  Foraminifers?  Further,  there  is  no 
link  of  connection  known  to  us  between  Eozoon  and 
any  of  the  animals  of  the  succeeding  Primordial,  which 
are  nearly  all  essentially  new  types,  vastly  more 
different  from  Eozoon  than  it  is  from  many  modern 
creatures.  Any  such  connection  is  altogether  imagin- 
ary and  unsupported  by  proof.  The  laws  of  creation 
actually  illustrated  by  this  primeval  animal  are  only 
these :  First,  that  there  has  been  a  progress  in 
creation  from  few,  low,  and  generalised  types  of  life 
to  more  numerous,  higher,  and  more  specialised  types; 
and  secondly,  that  every  type,  low  or  high,  was  in- 
troduced at  first  in  its  best  and  highest  form,  and  was, 
as  a  type,  subject  to  degeneracy,  and  to  partial  or 
total  replacement  by  higher  types  subsequently  in- 
troduced. I  do  not  mean  that  we  could  learn  all  this 
from  Eozoon  alone;  but  that,  rightly  considered,  it 
illustrates  these  laws,  which  we  gather  from  the 


THE   EOZOIC  AGES.  35 

subsequent  progress  of  the  creative  work.  As  to  the 
mystery  of  the  origin  of  living  beings  from  dead 
matter,  or  any  changes  which  they  may  have  under- 
gone after  their  creation,  it  is  absolutely  silent. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE    PEIMOEDIAL,    OE   CAMBRIAN   AGE. 

BETWEEN  the  time  when  Eozoon  Canadense  flourished 
in  the  seas  of  the  Laurentian  period,  and  the  age 
which  we  have  been  in  the  habit  of  calling  Primor- 
dial, or  Cambrian,  a  great  gap  evidently  exists  in  our 
knowledge  of  the  succession  of  life  on  both  of  the 
continents,  representing  a  vast  lapse  of  time,  in  which 
the  beds  of  the  Upper  Laurentian  were  deposited,  and 
in  which  the  Laurentian  sediments  were  altered,  con- 
torted, and  upheaved,  before  another  immense  series 
of  beds,  the  Huronian,  or  Lower  Cambrian,  was  formed 
in  the  bottom  of  the  sea.  Eozoon  and  its  companions 
occur  in  the  Lower  Laurentian.  The  Upper  Lauren- 
tian has  afforded  no  evidence  of  life ;  and  even  those 
conditions  from  which  we  could  infer  life  are  absent. 
The  Lowest  Cambrian,  as  we  shall  see,  presents  only 
a  few  traces  of  living  beings.  Still,  the  physical 
history  of  this  interval  must  have  been  most  impor- 
tant. The  wide  level  bottom  of  the  Laurentian  sea 
was  broken  up  and  thrown  into  those  bold  ridges 
which  were  to  constitute  the  nuclei  of  the  existing 
continents.  Along  the  borders  of  these  new-made 
lands  intense  volcanic  eruptions  broke  forth,  produ- 
cittg  great  quantities  of  lava  and  'scoriae  and  huge 
beds  of  conglomerate  and  volcanic  ash,  which  are 


THE    PRIMORDIAL,    OR   CAMBRIAN   AGE.  37 

characteristic  features  of  the  older  Cambrian  in  both 
hemispheres.  Such  conditions,  undoubtedly  not  fa- 
vourable to  life,  seem  to  have  prevailed,  and  extended 
their  influence  very  widely,  so  that  the  sediments  of 
this  period  are  among  the  most  barren  in  fossils  of 
any  in  the  crust  of  the  earth.  If  any  quiet  undis- 
turbed spots  existed  in  which  the  Lower  Laurentian 
life  could  be  continued  and  extended  in  preparation 
for  the  next  period,  we  have  yet  discovered  few  of 
them.  The  experience  of  other  geological  periods 
would,  however,  entitle  us  to  look  for  such  oases  in 
the  Lower  Cambrian  desert,  and  to  expect  to  find 
there  some  connecting  links  between  the  life  of  the 
Eozoic  and  the  very  dissimilar  fauna  of  the  Primor- 
dial. 

The  western  hemisphere,  where  the  Laurentian  is 
so  well  represented,  is  especially  unproductive  in 
fossils  of  the  immediately  succeeding  period.  The 
only  known  exception  is  the  occurrence  of  Eozoon 
and  of  apparent  casts  of  worm-burrows  in  rocks  at 
Madoc  in  Canada,  overlying  the  Laurentian,  and  be- 
lieved to  be  of  Huronian  age,  and  certain  obscure 
fossils  of  uncertain  affinities,  recently  detected  by  Mr. 
Billings,  in  rocks  supposed  to  be  of  this  age,  in  New- 
foundland. Here,  however,  the  European  series  comes 
in  to  give  us  some  small  help.  Giimbel  has  described 
in  Bavaria  a  great  series  of  gneissic  rocks  correspond- 
ing to  the  Laurentian,  or  at  least  to  the  lower  part  of 
it ;  above  these  are  what  he  calls  the  Hercynian  mica- 
slate  and  primitive  clay-slate,  in  the  latter  of  which 


38       THE  STORY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

he  finds  a  peculiar  species  of  Eozoon,  which  he  namea 
~Eowon  Bavaricum.  In  England  also  the  Longmynd 
groups  of  rocks  in  Shropshire  and  in  Wales  appears 
to  be  the  immediate  successor  to  the  Upper  Lauren- 
tian;  and  it  has  afforded  some  obscure  "worm- 
burrows/'  or,  perhaps,  casts  of  sponges  or  fucoids, 
with  a  small  shell  of  the  genus  Lingulella,  and  also 
fragments  of  crustaceans  (Palceopyge).  The  "  Fucoid 
Sandstones "  of  Sweden,  believed  to  be  of  similar 
age,  afford  traces  of  marine  plants  and  burrows  of 
worms,  while  the  Harlech  beds  of  Wales  have  afforded 
to  Mr.  Hicks  a  considerable  number  of  fossil  animals, 
not  very  dissimilar  from  those  of  the  Upper  Cambrian. 
If  these  rocks  are  really  the  next  in  order  to  the 
Eozoic,  they  show  a  marked  advance  in  life  immedi- 
ately on  the  commencement  of  the  Primordial  period. 
In  Ireland,  the  curious  Oldhamia,  noticed  below,  ap- 
pears to  occur  in  rocks  equally  old.  As  we  ascend, 
however,  into  the  Middle  and  Upper  parts  of  the 
Cambrian,  the  Menevian  and  Lingula  flag-beds  of 
Britain,  and  their  equivalents  in  Bohemia  and  Scan- 
dinavia, and  the  Acadian  and  Potsdam  groups  of 
America,  we  find  a  rich  and  increasing  abundance  of 
animal  remains,  constituting  the  first  Primordial  fauna 
of  Barrande. 

The  rocks  of  the  Primordial  are  principally  sandy 
and  argillaceous,  forming  flags  and  slates,  without 
thick  limestones,  and  often  through  great  thicknesses, 
very  destitute  of  organic  remains,  but  presenting  some 
layers,  especially  in  their  upward  extension,  crowded 


THE   PRIMORDIAL,    OR   CAMBRIAN   AGE.  39 

with  fossils.  These  are  no  longer  mere  Protozoa,  but 
include  representatives  of  all  the  great  groups  of  ani- 
mals which  yet  exist,  except  the  vertebrates.  We 
shall  not  attempt  any  systematic  classification  of 
these;  but,  casting  our  dredge  and  tow-net  into  the 
Primordial  sea,  examine  what  we  collect,  rather  in  the 
order  of  relative  abundance  than  of  classification. 

Over  great  breadths  of  the  sea  bottom  we  find  vast 
numbers  of  little  bivalve  shells  of  the  form  and  size 
of  a  finger-nail,  fastened  by  fleshy  peduncles  imbedded 
in  the  sand  or  mud;  and  thus  anchored,  collecting 
their  food  by  a  pair  of  fringed  arms  from  the  minute 
animals  and  plants  which  swarm  in  the  surrounding 
waters.  These  are  the  Lingulce,  from  the  abundance 
of  which  some  of  the  Primordial  beds  have  received 
in  England  and  Wales  the  name  of  Lingula  flags. 
In  America,  in  like  manner,  in  some  beds  near  St. 
John,  New  Brunswick,  the  valves  of  these  shells  are 
so  abundant  as  to  constitute  at  least  half  of  the 
material  of  the  bed;  and  alike  in  Europe  and 
America,  Lingula  and  allied  forms  are  among  the 
most  abundant  Primordial  fossils.  The  Lingulas  are 
usually  reckoned  to  belong  to  the  great  sub-king- 
dom of  mollusks,  which  includes  all  the  bivalve  and 
univalve  shell-fish,  and  several  other  groups  of  crea- 
tures; but  an  able  American  naturalist,  Mr.  Morse, 
has  recently  shown  that  they  have  many  points  of 
resemblance  to  the  worms ;  and  thus,  perhaps,  consti- 
tute one  of  those  curious  old-fashioned  "comprehen- 
fiive JJ  types,  as  they  have  been  called,  which  present 


THE   PRIMORDIAL,    OR   CAMBRIAN   AGE.  41 

resemblances  to  groups  of  creatures,,  in  more  modern 
times  quite  distinct  from  each  other.  He  has  also 
found  that  the  modern  Lingulae  are  very  tenacious  of 
life,  and  capable  of  suiting  themselves  to  different 
circumstances,  a  fact  which,  perhaps,  has  some  con- 
nection with  their  long  persistence  in  geological  time. 
They  are  in  any  case  members  of  the  group  of  lamp- 
shells,  creatures  specially  numerous  and  important  in 
the  earlier  geological  ages. 

The  LingulaB  are  especially  interesting  as  ex- 
amples of  a  type  of  beings  continued  almost  from  the 
dawn  of  life  until  now ;  for  their  shells,  as  they  exist 
in  the  Primordial,  are  scarcely  distinguishable  from 
those  of  members  of  the  genus  which  still  live.  While 
other  tribes  of  animals  have  run  through  a  great 
number  of  different  forms,  these  little  creatures  re- 
main the  same.  Another  interesting  point  is  a  most 
curious  chemical  relation  of  the  Lingula,  with  refe- 
rence to  the  material  of  its  shell.  The  shells  of  mol- 
lusks  generally,  and  even  of  the  ordinary  lamp-shells, 
are  hardened  by  common  limestone  or  carbonate  of 
lime :  the  rarer  substance,  phosphate  of  lime,  is  in 
general  restricted  to  the  formation  of  the  bones  of 
the  higher  animals.  In  the  case  of  the  latter,  this 
relation  depends  apparently  on  the  fact  that  the 
albuminous  substances  on  which  animals  are  chiefly 
nourished  require  for  their  formation  the  presence 
of  phosphates  in  the  plant.  Hence  the  animal 
naturally  obtains  phosphate  of  lime  or  bone-earth 

with  its  food,  and  its  system  is  related  to  this  chemi. 

3* 


42       THE  STOEY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

cal  fact  in  such  wise  that  phosphate  of  lime  is  a  most 
appropriate  and  suitable  material  for  its  teeth  and 
bones.  Now,  in  the  case  of  the  lower  animals  of  the 
sea,  their  food,  not  being  of  the  nature  of  the  richer 
land  plants,  but  consisting  mainly  of  minute  algae 
and  of  animals  which  prey  on  these,  furnishes,  not 
phosphate  of  lime,  but  carbonate.  An  exception  to 
this  occurs  in  the  case  of  certain  animals  of  low  grade, 
sponges,  etc.,  which,  feeding  on  minute  plants  with 
siliceous  cell-walls,  assimilate  the  flinty  matter  and 
form  a  siliceous  skeleton.  But  this  is  an  exception 
of  downward  tendency,  in  which  these  animals  ap- 
proach to  plants  of  low  grade.  The  exception  in  the 
case  of  Lingulaa  is  in  the  other  direction.  It  gives 
to  these  humble  creatures  the  same  material  for  their 
hard  parts  which  is  usually  restricted  to  animals  of 
much  higher  rank.  The  purpose  of  this  arrangement, 
whether  in  relation  to  the  cause  of  the  deviation  from 
the  ordinary  rule  or  its  utility  to  the  animal  itself, 
remains  unknown.  It  has,  however,  been  ascertained 
by  Dr.  Hunt,  who  first  observed  the  fact  in  the  case 
of  the  Primordial  Lingulas,  that  their  modern  suc- 
cessors coincide  with  them,  and  differ  from  their 
contemporaries  among  the  mollusks  in  the  same  par- 
ticular. This  may  seem  a  trifling  matter,  but  it 
shows  in  this  early  period  the  origination  of  the  dif- 
ference still  existing  in  the  materials  of  which  animals 
construct  their  skeletons,  and  also  the  wonderful  per- 
sistence of  the  Lingulas,  through  all  the  geological 
ages,  in  th3  material  of  their  shells.  This  is  the  more 


THE    PRIMORDIAL,    OR   CAMBRIAN   AGE.  43 

remarkable,  in  connection  with  our  own  very  slender 
acquaintance  with  the  phenomenon,  in  relation  either 
to  its  efficient  or  final  causes. 

Before  leaving  the  Lingulae,  I  may  mention  that 
Mr.  Morse  informs  me  that  living  specimens,  when 
detached  from  their  moorings,  can  creep  like  worms, 
leaving  long  furrows  on  the  sand,  and  that  they  can 
also  construct  sand-tubes  wherein  to  shelter  them- 
selves. This  shows  that  some  of  the  abundant  "worm 
burrows  "  of  the  Primordial  may  have  been  the  work 
of  these  curious  little  shell-fishes,  as  well  as,  perhaps, 
some  of  the  markings  which  have  been  described 
under  the  name  of  Eopliyton,  and  have  been  supposed, 
I  think  incorrectly,  to  be  remains  of  land  plants. 

In  addition  to  Lingula  we  may  obtain,  though 
rarely,  lamp- shells  of  another  type,  that  of  the  Orthids, 
These  have  the  valves  hinged  along  a  straight  line, 
in  the  middle  of  which  is  a  notch  for  the  peduncle, 
and  the  valves  are  often  marked  with  ribs  or  striae. 
The  Orthids  were  content  with  limestone  for  their 
shells,  and  apparently  lived  in  the  same  circumstances 
with  the  Lingulas;  and  in  the  period  succeeding  the 
Primordial  they  became  far  more  abundant.  Yet 
they  perished  at  an  early  stage  of  the  world's  pro- 
gress, and  have  no  representatives  in  the  modern 
seas. 

In  many  parts  of  the  Primordial  ocean  the  muddy 
bottom  swarmed  with  crustaceans,  relatives  of  our 
shrimps  and  lobsters,  but  of  a  form  which  differs  so 
much  from  these  modern  shell-fishes  that  the  question 


44        THE  STORY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

of  their  affinities  has  long  been  an  unsettled  onfi 
with  zoologists.  Hundreds  of  species  are  known, 
some  almost  microscopic  in  size,  others  a  foot  in 
length.  All  are  provided  with  a  broad  flat  horseshoe- 
shaped  head-plate,  which,  judging  from  its  form  and 
a  comparison  with  the  modern  king-crabs  or  horse- 
shoe-crabs, must  have  been  intended  as  a  sort  of 
rnud-plough  to  enable  them  to  excavate  burrows  or 
hide  themselves  in  the  slimy  ooze  of  the  ocean  bed. 
On  the  sides  of  this  buckler  are  placed  the  prominent 
eyes,  furnished  with  many  separate  lenses,  on  pre- 
cisely the  same  plan  with  those  of  modern  crustaceans 
and  insects,  and  testifying,  as  Buckland  long  ago 
pointed  out,  to  the  identity  of  the  action  of  light  in 
the  ancient  and  the  modern  seas.  The  body  was 
composed  of  numerous  segments,  each  divided  trans- 
versely into  three  lobes,  whence  they  have  received 
the  name  of  Trilobites,  and  the  whole  articulated,  so 
that  the  creature  could  roll  itself  into  a  ball,  like  the 
modern  slaters  or  wood-lice,  which  are  not  very  dis- 
tant relatives  of  these  old  crustaceans.*  The  limbs 
of  Trilobites  were  long  unknown,  and  it  was  even 
doubted  whether  they  had  any ;  but  recent  discoveries 
have  shown  that  they  had  a  series  of  flat  limbs  useful 
both  for  swimming  and  creeping.  The  Trilobites, 
under  many  specific  and  generic  forms,  range  from 

*  Woodward  has  recently  suggested  affinities  of  Trilobites 
with  the  Isopods  or  equal-footed  crustaceans,  on  the  evidence 
of  a  remarkable  specimen  with  remains  of  feet  described  b^ 
Billing^. 


THE    PRIMORDIAL,    OT?    CAMBRIAN   AGE.  45 

the  Primordial  to  the  Carboniferous  rocks,  but  are 
altogether  wantiDg  in  the  more  recent  formations  and 
in  the  modern  seas.  The  Trilobites  lived  on  muddy 
bottoms,  and  their  remains  are  extremely  abundant 
in  shaly  and  slaty  beds,  though  found  also  in  lime- 
stone and  sandstone.  In  the  latter  they  have  left 
most  curious  traces  of  their  presence  in  the  trails 
which  they  have  produced.  Some  of  the  most  ancient 
sandstones  have  their  surfaces  covered  with  rows  of 
punctured  impressions  (Protichnites,  first  foot-prints), 
others  have  strange  series  of  transverse  grooves  with 
longitudinal  ones  at  the  side  (Glimactichnites,  ladder 
foot-prints) ;  others  are  oval  burrows,  marked  with 
transverse  lines  and  a  ridge  along  the  middle  (Rusich- 
nites,  wrinkle  foot-prints).  All  of  these  so  nearly 
resemble  the  trails  and  tracks  of  modern  king-crabs 
that  there  can  be  little  doubt  as  to  their  origin. 
Many  curious  striated  grooves  and  bifid  marks,  found 
on  the  surfaces  of  Primordial  beds,  and  which  have 
been  described  as  plants,  are  probably  only  the  marks 
of  the  oral  organs  or  feet  of  these  and  similar  crea- 
tures, which  passed  their  lives  in  grubbing  for  food 
in  the  soft,  slimy  ooze,  though  they  could,  no  doubt, 
like  the  modern  king-crabs,  swim  when  necessary. 
Some  still  more  shrimp-like  creatures,  Hymenocaris, 
which  are  found  with  them,  certainly  had  this  power. 

A  lower  type  of  annulose  or  ringed  animal  than  that 
of  the  Trilobites,  is  that  of  the  worms.  These  crea- 
tures cannot  be  preserved  in  a  fossil  state,  except  in 
the  case  ~f  those  which  inhabit  calcareous  tubes :  but 


46       THE  STORY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

the  marks  which  their  jointed  bodies  and  nun  erout 
3ide -bristles  leave  on  the  sand  and  mud  may,  when 
buried  under  succeeding  sediments,  remain ;  and  ex- 
tensive surfaces  of  very  old  rocks  are  marked  in  this 
way,  eithei?  with  cylindrical  burrows  or  curious  trails 
with  side  scratches  looking  like  pinnate  leaves.  These 
constitute  the  genus  Crusiana,  while  others  of  more 
ordinary  form  belong  to  the  genus  Arenicolites,  so 
named  from  the  common  Arenicola,  or  lobworm,  whose 
burrows  they  are  supposed  to  resemble.  Markings 
referable  to  seaweed  also  occur  in  the  Primordial  rocks, 
and  also  some  grotesque  and  almost  inexplicable  or- 
ganisms known  as  Oldhamia,  which  have  been  chiefly 
found  in  the  Primordial  of  Ireland.  One  of  the  most 
common  forms  consists  of  a  series  of  apparently 
jointed  threads  disposed  in  fan-like  clusters  on  a  cen- 
tral stem  (Oldhamia  antiqua).  Another  has  a  wider 
and  simpler  fan-like  arrangement  of  filaments.  These 
have  been  claimed  by  botanists  as  algae,  and  have  been 
regarded  by  zoologists  as  minute  Zoophytes,  while 
some  more  sceptical  have  supposed  that  they  may  be 
mere  inorganic  wrinklings  of  the  beds.  This  last  view 
does  not,  however,  seem  tenable.  They  are,  perhaps, 
the  predecessors  of  the  curious  Graptolites,  which  we 
shall  have  to  represent  in  the  Silurian. 

Singularly  enough,  Forammifera,  the  characteristic 
fossils  of  the  Laurentian,  have  been  little  recognised  in 
the  Primordial,  nor  are  there  any  limestones  known 
so  massive  as  those  of  the  former  series.  There  are, 
however,  a  number  of  remarkable  organisms,  which 


THE    PRIMORDIAL,    OB   CAMBRIAN   AGE.  47 

have  usually  been  described  as  sponges,  but  are  more 
probably  partly  of  the  nature  of  sponges  and  partly 
of  that  of  Foraminifera.  Of  this  kind  are  some  of  the 
singular  conical  fossils  described  by  Billings  as  Archceo- 
cyathus,  and  found  in  the  Primordial  limestone  of 
Labrador.  They  are  hollow  within,  with  radiating 
porss  and  plates,  calcareous  in  some,  and  in  others 
with  siliceous  spicules  like  those  of  modern  sponges. 
Some  of  them  are  several  inches  in  diameter,  and  they 
must  have  grown  rooted  in  muddy  bottoms,  in  the 
manner  of  some  of  the  deep-sea  sponges  of  modern 
times.  One  species  at  least  of  these  creatures  was  a 
true  Foraminifer,  allied,  though  somewhat  distantly,  to 
Eozoon.  In  some  parts  of  the  Primordial  sandstones, 
curious  funnel-shaped  casts  in  sand  occur,  sometimes 
marked  with  spiral  lines.  The  name  Histioderma  has 
been  given  to  some  of  these,  and  they  have  been 
regarded  as  mouths  of  worm-burrows.  Others  ot 
larger  size  have  been  compared  to  inverted  stumps 
of  trees.  If  they  were  produced  by  worms,  some  of 
these  must  have  been  of  gigantic  size,  but  Billings 
has  recently  suggested  that  they  may  be  casts  of 
sponges  that  lived  like  some  modern  species  imbedded 
in  the  sand.  In  accordance  with  this  view  I  have 
represented  these  curious  objects  in  the  engraving, 
On  the  whole,  the  life  of  these  oldest  Palaeozoic  rocks 
is  not  very  abundant ;  but  there  are  probably  represen- 
tatives of  three  of  the  great  subdivisions  of  animals — 
or,  as  some  would  reckon  them,  of  four — the  Protozoa, 
the  Eadiata  (Ccelenterata),  the  Mollusca,  and  the 


4-0       THE  STOEY  OP  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

Annulosa.  And  it  is  most  interesting  thus  to  find  in 
these  very  old  rocks  the  modern  subdivisions  of 
animals  already  represented,  and  these  by  types  some 
of  them  nearly  allied  to  existing  inhabitants  of  the 
seas  I  have  endeavoured  in  the  engraving  to  repre- 
sent some  of  the  leading  forms  of  marine  life  in  this 
ancient  period. 

Perhaps  one  of  the  most  interesting  discoveries  in 
these  rocks  is  that  of  rain-marks  and  shrinkage-cracks, 
in  some  of  the  very  oldest  beds — those  of  the  Long- 
mynd  in  Shropshire.  On  the  modern  muddy  beach 
any  ordinary  observer  is  familiar  with  the  cracks 
produced  by  the  action  of  the  sun  and  air  on  the  dried 
surfaces  left  by  the  tides.  Such  cracks,  covered  by 
the  waters  of  a  succeeding  tide,  may  be  buried  in 
newer  silt,  and  once  preserved  in  this  way  are  im- 
perishable. In  like  manner,  the  pits  left  by  passing 
showers  of  rain  on  the  mud  recently  left  bare  by  the 
tide  may,  when  the  mud  has  dried,  become  sufficiently 
firm  to  be  preserved.  In  this  way  we  have  rain-marks 
of  various  geological  ages;  but  the  oldest  known  are 
those  of  the  Longmynd,  where  they  are  associated 
both  with  ripple-marks  and  shrinkage -cracks.  We 
thus  have  evidence  of  the  action  of  tides,  of  sun,  and 
of  rain,  in  these  ancient  periods  just  as  in  the  present 
day.  Were  there  no  land  animals  to  prowl  along  the 
low  tidal  flats  in  search  of  food  ?  Were  there  no  herbs 
OT  trees  to  drink  in  the  rains  and  flourish  in  the  sun- 
shine ?  If  there  were,  no  bone  or  footprint  on  the 
shore,  or  drifted  leaf  or  branch,  has  yet  revealed  their 
existence  to  the  eyes  of  geologists 


THE   PRIMORDIAL,    OK   CAMBRIAN   AGE.  49 

The  beds  of  the  Primordial  age  exist  in  England,  in 
Bohemia,  in  Sweden  and  Norway,  and  also  in  North 
America.  They  appear  to  have  been  deposited  along 
the  shores  of  the  old  Laurentian  continent^  and 
probably  some  of  them  indicate  very  deep  water. 
The  Primordial  rocks  are  in  many  parts  of  the  world 
altered  and  hardened.  They  have  often  assumed  a 
slaty  structure,  and  their  bedding,  and  the  fossils 
which  they  contain,  are  both  affected  by  this.  The 
usual  view  entertained  as  to  what  is  called  slaty  struc- 
ture is,  that  it  depends  on  pressure,  acting  on  more  or 
less  compressible  material  in  some  direction  usually 
different  from  that  of  the  bedding.  Such  pressure  has 
the  effect  of  arranging  all  the  flat  particles — as  scales 
of  mica,  etc. — in  planes  parallel  to  the  compressing 
surface.  Hence,  if  much  material  of  this  kind  is 
^resent  in  the  sediment,  the  whole  rock  assumes  a 
fissile  character  causing  it  to  split  readily  into  thin 
plates.  That  such  yielding  to  pressure  has  actually 
taken  place  is  seen  very  distinctly  in  microscopic 
sections  of  some  slaty  rocks,  which  often  show  not 
only  a  laminated  structure,  but  an  actual  crumpling 
on  a  small  scale,  causing  them  to  assume  almost  the 
aspect  jf  woody  fibre.  Such  rocks  often  remind  a 
casual  observer  of  decaying  trunks  of  trees,  and 
sections  of  them  under  the  microscope  show  the  most 
minute  and  delicate  crumpling.  It  is  also  proved  by 
the  condition  of  the  fossils  the  beds  contain.  These 
are  often  distorted,  so  that  some  of  them  are  length- 
ened and  others  shortened,  and  if  specimens  w?,re 


50       THE  STORY  OP  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

selected  with,  that  view,  it  would  be  quite  easy  tp 
suppose  that  those  lengthened  by  distortion  are  of 
different  species  from  those  distorted  so  as  to  be 
shortened.  Slaty  cleavage  and  distortion  are  not, 
however,  confined  to  Primordial  rocks,  but  occur  in 
altered  sediments  of  various  ages. 

The  Primordial  sediments  must  have  at  one  time 
been  very  widely  distributed,  and  must  have  filled  up 
many  of  the  inequalities  produced  by  the  rending  and 
contortion  of  the  Laurentian  beds.  Their  thicker  and 
more  massive  portions  are,  however,  necessarily  along 
the  borders  of  the  Laurentian  continents,  and  as  they 
in  their  turn  were  raised  up  into  land,  they  became 
exposed  to  the  denuding  action  first  of  the  sea,  and 
afterwards  of  the  rain  and  rivers,  and  were  so  exten- 
sively wasted  away  that  only  in  a  few  regions  do  large 
areas  of  them  remain  visible.  That  of  Bohemia  has 
afforded  to  Barrande  a  great  number  of  most  interest- 
ing fossils.  The  rocks  of  St.  David's  in  Wales,  those 
of  Shropshire  in  England,  and  those  of  Wicklow  in 
Ireland  are  also  of  great  interest ;  and  next  to  these 
in  importance  are,  perhaps,  the  Huronian  and  Acadian 
groups  of  North  America,  in  which  continent — as  for 
example  in  Nova  Scotia  and  in  some  parts  of  New 
England — there  are  extensive  areas  of  old  metamor- 
phic  rocks  whose  age  has  not  been  determined  by 
fossils,  but  which  may  belong  to  this  period. 

The  question  of  division  lines  of  formations  is  one 
much  agitated  in  the  case  of  the  Cambrian  rocks. 
Whether  certain  beds  are  to  be  called  Cambrian  01 


THE    PRIMORDIAL,    OR   CAMBRIAN   AGE.  51 

Silurian  has  been  a  point  greatly  controverted;  and 
tlie  terms  Primordial  and  Primordial  Silurian  have  been 
used  as  means  to  avoid  the  raising  of  this  difficulty. 
Many  of  our  division  lines  in  geology  are  arbitrary 
and  conventional,  and  this  may  be  the  case  with  that 
between  the  Primordial  and  Silurian,  the  one  age 
graduating  into  the  other.  There  appears  to  be,  how- 
ever, the  best  reason  to  recognise  a  distinct  Cambrian 
period,  preceding  the  two  great  periods,  those  of  the 
second  and  third  faunas  of  Barrande,  to  which  the 
term  Silurian  is  usually  applied.  On  the  other  hand, 
in  so  far  as  our  knowledge  extends  at  present,  a 
strongly  marked  line  of  separation  exists  between  the 
Laurentian  and  Primordial,  the  latter  resting  on  the 
edges  of  the  former,  which  seems  then  to  have  been  as 
much  altered  as  now.  Still  a  break  of  this  kind  may 
be,  perhaps  must  be,  merely  local ;  and  may  vary  in 
amount.  Thus,  in  some  places  we  find  rocks  of  Silu- 
rian and  later  ages  resting  directly  on  the  Laurentian, 
without  the  intervention  of  the  Primordial.  In  any 
case,  where  a  line  of  coast  is  steadily  sinking,  each 
succeeding  deposit  will  overlap  that  which  went  before; 
and  this  seems  to  have  been  the  case  with  the  Lauren- 
tian shore  when  the  Primordial  and  Silurian  were  being 
deposited.  Hence  over  large  spaces  the  Primordial  is 
absent,  being  probably  buried  up,  except  where  exposed 
by  denudation  at  the  margin  of  the  two  formations. 

This  occurs  in  several  parts  of  Canada,  while  the 
Laurentian  rocks  have  evidently  been  subjected  to 
metamorphism  and  long-continued  weathering  before 


52        THE  STORY  OP  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

the  Lower  Silurian  were  deposited ;  and  in  some  cases 
the  latter  rest  on  weather-worn  and  pitted  surfaces, 
and  are  filled  with  angular  bits  of  the  underlying  rock, 
as  well  as  with  drift-shells  which  have  been  cast  on 
these  old  Laurentian  shores ;  while  in  other  cases  the 
Silurian  rests  on  smooth  water-worn  Laurentian  rocks, 
and  is  filled  at  the  junction  with  well-rounded  pebbles 
and  grains  of  sand  which  have  evidently  been  subjected 
to  a  more  thorough  attrition  than  those  of  the  present 
beach.  With  respect  to  the  line  of  division  between 
the  Primordial  and  the  next  succeeding  rocks,  it  will 
be  seen  that  important  movements  of  the  continents 
occurred  at  the  close  of  the  Cambrian,  and  in  some 
places  the  Cambrian  rocks  have  been  much  disturbed 
before  the  deposition  of  the  Lower  Silurian. 

Seated  on  some  ancient  promontory  of  the  Lau- 
rentian, and  looking  over  the  plain  which,  in  the 
Primordial  and  Lower  Silurian  periods  was  the  sea,  I 
have  often  wished  for  some  shred  of  vegetable  matter 
to  tell  what  lived  on  that  land  when  the  Primordial 
surf  beat  upon  its  shore,  and  washed  up  the  Trilobites 
and  Brachiopods  of  those  old  seas ;  but  no  rock  has 
yet  taken  up  its  parable  to  reveal  the  secret,  and  the 
Primordial  is  vocal  only  with  the  old  story :  "  And  God 
said,  Let  the  waters  swarm  with  swarming  living 
things,  and  it  was  so."  So  our  picture  of  the  period 
may  represent  a  sea-bottom  swarming  with  animals  of 
low  grade,  some  sessile,  some  locomotive ;  and  we  may 
merely  suppose  a  distant  shore  with  vegetation  dimly 
seen,  and  active  volcanoes ;  but  a  shore  on  which  no 


THE    PRIMORDIAL,    OR    CAMBRIAN    AGE.  53 

foot  of  naturalist  has  yet  trod  to  scan  its  productions. 
Very  different  estimates  have  been  formed  of  the 
amount  of  life  in  this  period,  according  to  the  position 
given  to  its  latest  limit.  Taking  some  of  the  more 
modern  views  of  this  subject,  we  might  have  included 
among  the  Primordial  animals  many  additional  crea- 
tures, .which  we  prefer  noticing  in  the  Silurian,  since 
it  may  at  least  be  affirmed  that  their  head-quarters 
were  in  that  age,  even  if  they  had  a  beginning  in  the 
Primordial.  It  may  be  interesting  here,  however,  to 
note  the  actual  amount  of  life  known  to  us  in  this 
period,  taken  in  its  largest  scope.  In  doing  this, 
I  shall  take  advantage  of  an  interesting  table  given  by 
Dr.  Bigsby,*  and  representing  the  state  of  knowledge 
in  1868,  and  shall  group  the  species  in  such  a  manner 
as  to  indicate  the  relative  abundance  of  distinct  types 
of  structure.  We  find  then — 

Plants  (all,  or  nearly  all,  supposed  to  be 
seaweeds,  and   some,  probably,  mere 

tracks  or  trails  of  animals)          .        .  22  species. 

Sponges,  and  similar  creatures       .  27  „ 

Corals  and  their  allies     ....  6  „ 

Starfishes  and  their  allies        .        •        .  4  „ 

Worms 29  „ 

Trilobites  and  other  crustaceans     .        .  442  „ 

Lamp- shells  and  other  molluscoids         .  193  „ 

Common  bivalve  mollusks       .         .  12  „ 
Common  univalve  mollusks  and  their 

allies 172  „ 

Higher  mollusks,  nautili,cuttle-fishes,etc.  65  „ 

In  all        .         .        .     972      „ 
*  "Thesaurus  Siluricus." 


54       THE  STOEY  OP  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

Now  in  this  enumeration  we  observe,  in  the  first 
place,  a  representation  of  all  the  lower  or  invertebrate 
groups  of  the  waters.  "We  have  next  the  remarkable 
fact  that  the  Kadiata  of  Cuvier,  the  lowest  and  most 
plant-like  of  the  marine  animals,  are  comparatively 
slenderly  represented,  yet  that  there  are  examples  of 
their  higher  as  well  as  of  their  lower  forms.  We 
have  the  further  fact  that  the  crustaceans,  the  highest 
marine  animals  of  the  annulose  type,  are  predominant 
in  the  waters ;  and  that  in  the  mollusks  the  highest 
and  lowest  groups  are  most  plentiful,  the  middle  less 
so.  The  whole  number  of  species  is  small,  and  this 
may  arise  either  from  our  having  here  reached  an 
early  period  in  the  history  of  life,  or  from  our  in- 
formation being  defective.  Both  are  probably  true. 
Still,  of  the  animals  known,  we  cannot  say  that  the 
proportions  of  the  different  kinds  depend  on  defec- 
tive knowledge.  There  is  no  reason,  for  example,  why 
corals  should  not  have  been  preserved  as  well  as 
Trilc  bites,  or  why  Brachiopods  should  have  been 
presurved  rather  than  ordinary  bivalves.  The  v pro- 
portions, therefore,  it  may  be  more  safe  to  reason  from 
than  the  aggregate.  In  looking  at  these  proportions,, 
and  comparing  them  with  those  of  modern  seas,  we 
are  struck  with  the  great  number  of  species  represent- 
ing some  types  either  now  extinct  or  comparatively 
rare:  the  Trilobites  and  Brachiopods  more  particularly. 
We  are  astonished  at  the  enormous  preponderance 
of  these  two  groups,  and  especially  of  the  Trilobites. 
Further,  we  observe  that  while  some  forms,  like 


THE   PRIMORDIAL,    OR   CAMBRIAN   AGE.  55 

Lingula  and  Nautilus,  have  persisted  down  to  modern 
times,  others,  like  the  Trilobites  and  Orthids,  perished 
very  early.  In  all  this  we  can  dimly  perceive  a 
fitness  of  living  things  to  physical  conditions,  a 
tendency  to  utilise  each  type  to  the  limit  of  its  capa- 
cities for  modification,  and  then  to  abandon  it  for 
something  higher ;  a  tendency  of  low  types  to  appear 
first,  but  to  appear  in  their  highest  perfection  and 
variety;  a  sudden  apparition  of  totally  diverse  plans 
of  structure  subserving  similar  ends  simultaneously 
with  each  other,  as  for  instance  those  of  the  Mollusk 
and  the  Crustacean;  the  appearance  of  optical  and 
mechanical  contrivances,  as  for  example  the  compound 
eyes  of  the  Trilobite  and  the  swimming  float  of  the 
Orthoceras,  in  all  their  perfection  at  first,  just  as  they 
continue  to  this  day  in  creatures  of  similar  grade. 
That  these  and  other  similar  things  point  to  a  uniform 
and  far-reaching  plan,  no  rational  mind  can  doubt; 
and  if  the  world  had  stopped  short  in  the  Primordial 
period,  and  attained  to  no  further  development,  this 
would  have  been  abundantly  apparent;  though  it 
shines  forth  more  and  more  conspicuously  in  each 
succeeding  page  of  the  stony  record.  How  far  such 
unity  and  diversity  can  be  explained  by  the  modern 
philosophy  of  a  necessary  and  material  evolution  out  of 
mere  death  and  physical  forces,  and  how  far  it  requires 
the  intervention  of  a  Creative  mind,  are  questions 
which  we  may  well  leave  with  the  thoughtful  reader, 
till  we  have  traced  this  history  somewhat  further. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE    LOWEE   AND    UPPER    SILURIAN   AOES. 

BY  English  geologists,  the  great  series  of  formations 
which  succeeds  to  the  Cambrian  is  usually  included 
under  the  name  Silurian  System,  first  proposed  by 
Sir  Roderick  Murchison.  It  certainly,  however,  con- 
sists of  two  distinct  groups,  holding  the  second  and 
third  faunas  of  Barrande.  The  older  of  the  two, 
usually  called  the  Lower  Silurian,  is  the  Upper 
Cambrian  of  Sedgwick,  and  may  properly  be  called 
the  Siluro- Cambrian.  The  newer  is  the  true  Silurian, 
or  Silurian  proper — the  Upper  Silurian  of  Murchison. 
We  shall  in  this  chapter,  for  convenience,  consider 
both  in  connection,  using  occasionally  the  term  Lower 
Silurian  as  equivalent  to  Siluro- Cambrian.  The  Silu- 
rian presents  us  with  a  definite  physical  geography, 
for  the  northern  hemisphere  at  least ;  and  this  physical 
geography  is  a  key  to  the  life  conditions  of  the  time. 
The  North  American  continent,  from  its  great  un- 
broken area,  affords,  as  usual,  the  best  means  of 
appreciating  this.  In  this  period  the  northern  cur- 
rents, acting  perhaps  in  harmony  with  old  Laurentian 
outcrops,  had  deposited  in  the  sea  two  long  submarine 
ridges,  running  to  the  southward  from  the  extreme 
ends  of  the  Laurentian  nucleus,  and  constituting  the 
foundations  of  the  present  ridges  of  the  Roeky 


THE    LOWEE  AND   UPPER   SILURIAN   AOES.  57 

Mountains  and  the  Alleghanies.  Between  these  the 
extensive  triangular  area  now  constituting  the  greater 
part  of  North  America,  was  a  shallow  oceanic  plateau, 
sheltered  from  the  cold  polar  currents  by  the  Lauren- 
tian  land  on  the  north,  and  separated  by  the  ridges 
already  mentioned  from  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific.  It 
was  on  this  great  plateau  of  warm  and  sheltered  ocean 
that  what  we  call  the  Silurian  fauna  lived;  while  of 
the  creatures  that  inhabited  the  depths  of  the  great 
bounding  oceans,  whose  abysses  must  have  been  far 
deeper  and  at  a  much  lower  temperature,  we  know 
little.  During  the  long  Silurian  periods,  it  is  true, 
the  great  American  plateau  underwent  many  revolu- 
tions j  sometimes  being  more  deeply  submerged,  and 
having  clear  water  tenanted  by  vast  numbers  of  corals 
and  shell-fishes,  at  others  rising  so  as  to  become 
shallow  and  to  receive  deposits  of  sand  and  mud ;  but 
it  was  always  distinct  from  the  oceanic  area  without. 
In  Europe,  in  like  manner,  there  seems  to  have  been  a 
great  internal  plateau  bounded  by  the  embryo  hills  of 
Western  Europe  on  the  west,  and  harbouring  a  very 
similar  assemblage  of  creatures  to  those  existing  in 
America. 

Further,  during  these  long  periods  there  were 
great  changes,  from  a  fauna  of  somewhat  primordial 
type  up  to  a  new  order  of  things  in  the  Upper  Silu- 
rian, tending  toward  the  novelties  which  were  in- 
troduced in  the  succeeding  Devonian  and  Carboni- 
ferous. We  may,  in  the  first  place,  sketch  these 

changes  as  they  occurred  on  the  two  great  continental 

4 


58       THE  STORY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

plateaus,  noting  as  we  proceed  sucli  hints  as  can  be 
obtained  with  reference  to  the  more  extensive  oceanic 
spaces.  < 

Before  the  beginning  of  the  age,  both  plateaus  seem 
to  have  been  invaded  by  sandy  and  muddy  sediments 
charged  at  some  periods  and  places  with  magnesian 
limestone;  and  these  circumstances  were  not  favour- 
able to  the  existence  or  preservation  of  organic 
remains.  Such  are  the  Potsdam  and  Calciferous 
beds  of  America  and  the  Tremadoc  and  Llandeilo 
beds  of  England.  The  Potsdam  and  Tremadoc  are  by 
their  fossils  included  in  the  Cambrian,  and  may  at  least 
be  regarded  as  transition  groups.  It  is  further  to  be 
observed,  in  the  case  of  these  beds,  that  if  we  begin 
at  the  west  side  of  Europe  and  proceed  easterly,  or 
at  the  east  side  of  America  and  proceed  westerly,  they 
become  progressively  thinner,  the  greater  amount  of 
material  being  deposited  at  the  edges  of  the  future 
continents ;  just  as  on  the  sides  of  a  muddy  tideway 
the  flats  are  higher,  and  the  more  coarse  sediment  de- 
posited near  the  margin  of  the  channel,  and  fine  mud 
is  deposited  at  a  greater  distance  and  in  thinner  beds. 
The  cause,  however,  on  the  great  scale  of  the  Atlantic, 
was  somewhat  different,  ancient  ridges  determining 
the  border  of  the  channel.  This  statement  holds 
good  not  only  of  these  older  beds,  but  of  the  whole 
of  the  Silurian,  and  of  the  succeeding  Devonian  and 
Carboniferous,  all  deposited  on  these  same  plateaus. 
Thus,  in  the  case  of  the  Silurian  in  England  and 
Wales,  the  whole  series  is  more  than  20,000  feet 


THE    LOWEfi   AND   UPPER   SILURIAN   AGES.  59 

thick,  but  in  Kussia,  it  is  less  than  1,000  feet.  In 
the  eastern  part  of  America  the  thickness  is  estimated 
at  quite  as  great  an  amount  as  in  Europe,  while  in  the 
region  of  the  Mississippi  the  Silurian  rocks  are  scarcely 
thicker  than  in  Russia,  and  consist  in  great  part  of 
limestones  and  fine  sediments,  the  sandstones  and 
conglomerates  thinning  out  rapidly  eastward  of  the 
Appalachian  Mountains. 

In  both  plateaus  the  earlier  period  of  coarse  accu- 
mulations was  succeeded  by  one  in  which  was  clear 
water  depositing  little  earthy  sediment,  and  this 
usually  fine;  and  in  which  the  sea  swarmed  with 
animal  life,  from  the  debris  of  which  enormous  beds 
of  limestone  were  formed — the  Trenton  limestone  of 
America  and  the  Bala  limestone  of  Europe.  The 
fossils  of  this  part  of  the  series  open  up  to  us  the 
head-quarters  of  Lower  Silurian  life,  the  second  great 
fauna  of  Barrande,  that  of  the  Upper  Cambrian  of 
Sedgwick;  and  in  America  more  especially,  the 
Trenton  and  its  associated  limestones  can  be  traced 
over  forty  degrees  of  longitude  ;  and  throughout  the 
whole  of  this  space  its  principal  beds  are  composed 
entirely  of  comminuted  corals,  shells,  and  crinoids, 
and  studded  with  organisms  of  the  same  kinds  still  re- 
taining their  forms.  Out  of  these  seas,  in  the  Euro- 
pean area,  arose  in  places  volcanic  islets,  like  those  of 
the  modern  Pacific. 

In  the  next  succeeding  era  the  clear  waters  became 
again  invaded  with  muddy  and  sandy  sediments,  in 
various  alternations,  and  with  occasional  bands  of  lime- 


60        THE  STORY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAS. 

stone,  constituting  the  Caradoc  beds  of  Britain  and 
the  Utica  and  Hudson  River  groups  of  America. 
During  the  deposition  of  these,  the  abounding  life  of 
the  Siluro- Cambrian  plateaus  died  away,  and  a  middle 
group  of  sandstones  and  shales,  the  Oneida  and  Medina 
of  America  and  the  Mayhill  of  England,  form  the  base 
of  the  Upper  Silurian. 

But  what  was  taking  place  meanwhile  in  the  oceanic; 
areas  separating  our  plateaus  ?  These  were  identical 
with  the  basins  of  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific,  which 
already  existed  in  this  period  as  depressions  of  the 
earth's  crust,  perhaps  not  so  deep  as  at  present.  As 
to  the  deposits  in  their  deeper  portions  we  know 
nothing ;  but  on  the  margin  of  the  Atlantic  area  are 
some  rocks  which  give  us  at  least  a  little  information. 

In  the  later  part  of  the  Cambrian  period  the  enor- 
mous thickness  of  the  Quebec  group  of  North  America 
appears  to  represent  a  broad  stripe  of  deep  water 
parallel  to  the  eastern  edge  of  the  American  plateau, 
and  in  which  an  immense  thickness  of  beds  of  sand 
and  mud  was  deposited  with  very  few  fossils,  except 
in  particular  beds,  and  these  of  a  more  primordial 
aspect  than  those  of  the  plateau  itself.  These  rocks 
no  doubt  represent  the  margin  of  a  deep  Atlantic 
area,  over  which  cold  currents  destructive  of  life  were 
constantly  passing,  and  in  which  great  quantities  of 
sand  and  mud,  swept  from  the  icy  regions  of  the 
North,  were  continually  being  laid.  The  researches 
of  Dr.  Carpenter  and  Dr.  Wyville  Thomson  show  us 
that  there  are  at  present  cold  areas  in  the  deeper 


THE    LOWER   AND    UPPEE    SILURIAN   AGES.  61 

parts  of  the  Atlantic,  on  the  European  side,  as  we 
have  long  known  that  they  exist  at  less  depths  on  the 
American  side ;  and  these  same  researches,  with  the 
soundings  on  the  American  banks,  show  that  sand 
and  gravel  may  be  deposited  not  merely  on  shallows, 
but  in  the  depths  of  the  ocean,  provided  that  these 
depths  are  pervaded  by  cold  and  heavy  currents 
capable  of  eroding  the  bottom,  and  of  moving  coarse 
material.  The  Quebec  group  in  Canada  and  the 
United  States,  and  the  metalliferous  Lower  Silurian 
rocks  of  Nova  Scotia  and  Newfoundland,  destitute  of 
great  marine  limestones  and  coral  reefs,  evidently 
represent  deep  and  cold-water  areas  on  the  border 
of  the  Atlantic  plateau. 

At  a  later  period,  the  beginning  of  the  Upper  Si- 
lurian, the  richly  fossiliferous  and  exceptional  deposits 
of  the  Island  of  Anticosti,  formed  in  the  deep 
hollow  of  the  Gulf  of  St.  Laurence,  show  that  when 
the  plateau  had  become  shallowed  up  by  deposition 
and  elevation,  and  converted  into  desolate  sandbanks, 
the  area  of  abundant  life  was  transferred  to  the  still 
deep  Atlantic  basin  and  its  bordering  bays,  in  which 
the  forms  of  Lower  Silurian  life  continued  to  exist 
until  they  were  mixed  up  with  those  of  the  Upper 
Silurian. 

If  we  turn  now  to  these  latter  rocks,  and  inquire 
as  to  their  conditions  on  our  two  great  plateaus,  we 
shall  find  a  repetition  of  changes  similar  to  those  which 
occurred  in  the  times  preceding.  The  sandy  shallows 
of  the  earlier  part  of  this  period  give  place  to  wide 


62       THE  STORY  OF  THE  EAETH  AND  MAN. 

oceanic  areas  similar  to  those  of  the  Lower  Silurian; 
In  these  we  find  vast  and  thick  coral  and  shell  lime- 
stones, the  Wenlock  of  England  and  Niagara  of  Ameri- 
ca, as  rich  in  life  as  the  limestones  of  the  Lower  Silu- 
rian, and  with  the  generic  and  family  forms  similar, 
but  the  species  for  the  most  part  different.  In  America 
these  limestones  were  followed  by  a  singularly  shallow 
condition  of  the  plateau,  in  which  the  surface  was  so 
raised  as  at  times  to  be  converted  into  separate  salt 
lakes  in  which  beds  of  salt  were  deposited.  On  both 
plateaus  there  were  alternations  of  oceanic  and  shal- 
low conditions,  under  which  the  Lower  Helderberg 
and  Ludlow  beds,  the  closing  members  of  the  Silu- 
rian, were  laid  down.  Of  the  Atlantic  beds  of  this 
period  we  know  little,  except  that  the  great  lime- 
stones appear  to  be  wanting,  and  to  be  replaced  by 
sandy  and  muddy  deposits,  in  some  parts  at  least  ot 
the  margins  of  the  area.  In  some  portions  also  ot 
the  plateaus  and  their  margins,  extensive  volcanic 
outbursts  seem  to  have  occurred ;  so  that  the  Ameri- 
can plateau  presented,  at  least  in  parts,  the  aspect  of 
a  coral  sea  with  archipelagoes  of  volcanic  islands,  the 
ejections  from  which  became  mixed  with  the  aqueous 
deposits  forming  around  them. 

Having  thus  traced  the  interesting  series  of  geo- 
graphical conditions  indicated  by  the  Silurian  series, 
we  may  next  take  our  station  on  one  of  the  submerged 
plateaus,  and  inquire  as  to  the  new  forms  of  life  now 
introduced  to  our  notice ;  and  in  doing  so  shall  include 
the  life  of  both  the  Lower  and  Upper  Silurian. 


THE    LOWER   AND    UPPER   SILURIAN   AGES.  63 

First,  we  may  remark  the  vast  abundance  and 
variety  of  corals.  The  polyps,  close  relatives  of  the 
common  sea-anemone  of  our  coasts,  which  build  up 
our  modern  coral  reefs,  were  represented  in  the  Silu- 
rian seas  by  a  great  number  of  allied  yet  different 
forms,  equally  effectual  in  the  great  work  of  secreting 
carbonate  of  lime  in  stony  masses,  and  therefore  in 


Fig.  9.— Fragment  of  Lower  Silurian  Limestone,  sliced  and  magnified  ten 
diameters,  showing  the  manner  in  which  it  is  made  np  of  fragments  of  corals, 
crinoids,  and  shells.  (From  a  paper  oil  the  Microscopic  Structure  of  Canadian 
limestone,  "  Canadian  Naturalist.") 

the  building-up  of  continents.  Let  us  note  some  of 
the  differences.  In  the  first  place,  whereas  our  modern 
coral-workers  can  show  us  but  the  topmost  pinnacles 
of  their  creations,  peeping  above  the  surface  of  the 


64        THE  6TOKY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

sea  in  coral  reefs  and  islands,  the  work  of  the  coral 
animals  of  the  Silurian  has  been  finished,  by  these 
limestones  being  covered  with  masses  of  new  sediment 
consolidated  into  hard  rock,  and  raised  out  of  the  sea 
to  constitute  a  parfc  of  the  dry  land.  In  the  Silurian 
limestones  we  thus  have,  not  merely  the  coral  reefs, 
but  the  wide  beds  of  comminuted  coral,  mixed  with 
the  remains  of  other  animals,  which  are  necessarily 
accumulated  in  the  ocean  bed  around  the  reefs  and 
islands.  Further,  these  beds,  which  we  might  find 
loose  and  unconsolidated  in  the  modern  sea,  have  their 
fragments  closely  cemented  together  in  the  old  lime- 
stones. The  nature  of  this  difference  can  be  well 
seen  by  comparing  a  fragment  of  modern  coral  or 
shell  limestone  from  Bermuda,  with  a  similar  fragment 
of  the  Trenton  limestone,  both  being  sliced  for  exami- 
nation under  the  microscope.  The  old  limestone  is  black 
or  greyish,  the  modern  one  is  nearly  white,  because  in 
the  former  the  organic  matter  in  the  animal  fragments 
has  been  carbonised  or  converted  into  coaly  and  bitu- 
minous matter.  The  old  limestone  is  much  more 
dense  and  compact,  partly  because  its  materials  have 
been  more  closely  compressed  by  superincumbent 
weight,  but  chiefly  because  calcareous  matter  in  solu- 
tion in  water  has  penetrated  all  the  interstices,  and 
filled  them  up  with  a  deposit  of  crystalline  limestone. 
In  examining  a  slice,  however,  under  the  microscope, 
it  will  be  seen  that  the  fragments  of  corals  and  other 
organisms  are  as  distinct  and  well  preserved  as  in  the 
crumbling  modern  rock,  except  that  they  are  perfectly 


THE    LOWER   AND   UPPER   SILURIAN   AGES.  65 

imbedded  in  a  paste  of  clear  transparent  limestone,  or 
rather  calcareous  spar,  infiltrated  between  them.  I 
have  examined  great  numbers  of  slices  of  these  lime- 
stones, ever  with  new  wonder  at  the  packing  of  the 
organic  fragments  which  they  present.  The  hard 
marble-like  limestones  used  for  building  in  the  Silu- 
rian districts  of  Europe  and  America,  are  thus  in  most 
cases  consolidated  masses  of  organic  fragments. 

In  the  next  place,  the  animals  themselves  must  have 
differed  somewhat  from  their  modern  successors.  This 
we  gather  from  the  structure  of  their  stony  cells, 
which  present  points  of  difference  indicating  corre- 
sponding difference  of  detail  in  the  soft  parts.  Zoolo- 
gists thus  separate  the  rugose  or  wrinkled  corals  and 
the  tabulate  or  floored  corals  of  the  Silurian  from  those 
of  the  modern  seas.  The  former  must  have  been 
more  like  the  ordinary  coral  animals ;  the  latter  were 
very  peculiar,  more  especially  in  the  close  union  of  the 
cells,  and  in  the  transverse  floors  which  they  were  in 
the  habit  of  building  across  these  cells  as  they  grew 
in  height.  They  presented,  however,  all  the  forms  of 
our  modern  corals.  Some  were  rounded  and  massive 
in  form,  others  delicate  and  branching.  Some  were 
solitary  or  detached,  others  aggregative  in  communi- 
ties. Some  had  the  individual  animals  large  and  pro- 
bably showy,  others  had  them  of  microscopic  size. 
Perhaps  the  most  remarkable  of  all  is  the  American 
Beatricea,*  which  grew  like  a  great  trunk  of  a  tree 

*  First  described  by  Mr.  Billings.  It  has  been  regarded  as 
a  plant,  and  as  a  cephalopod  shell ;  but  I  believe  it  was  «v  r-oraJ 
allied  to  Cyatiphi ilium. 

4* 


THE    LOWER   AND    UPPER    SILURIAN    AGES.  67 

twenty  feet  or  more  in  height,  its  solitary  animal  at 
the  top  like  a  pillar-saint,  though  no  doubt  more  ap- 
propriate and  comfortable;  and  multitudes  of  delicate 
and  encrusting  corals  clinging  like  mosses  or  lichens 
to  its  sides.  This  creature  belongs  to  the  very  middle 
of  the  Silurian,  and  must  have  lived  in  great  depths, 
undisturbed  by  swell  or  breakers,  and  sheltering  vast 
multitudes  of  other  creatures  in  its  stony  colonnades. 
Lastly,  the  Silurian  corals  nourished  in  latitudes 
more  boreal  than  their  modern  representatives.  In 
both  hemispheres  as  far  north  as  Silurian  limestones 
have  been  traced,  well-developed  corals  have  been 
found.  On  the  great  plateaus  sheltered  by  Laurentian 
ridges  to  the  north,  and  exposed  to  the  sun  and  to  the 
warmer  currents  of  the  equatorial  regions,  they  nou- 
rished most  grandly  and  luxuriantly :  but  they  lived 
also  north  of  the  Laurentian  bands  in  the  Arctic  Sea 
basins,  though  probably  in  the  shallower  and  more 
sheltered  parts.  Undoubtedly  the  geographical  ar- 
rangements of  the  Silurian  period  contributed  to  this. 
We  have  already  seen  how  peculiarly  adapted  to  an 
3xuberant  marine  life  were  the  submerged  continents 
of  the  period ;  and  there  was  probably  little  Arctic 
land  producing  icebergs  to  chill  the  seas.  The  great 
Arctic  currents,  which  then  as  now  flowed  powerfully 
toward  the  equator,  must  have  clung  to  the  deeper 
parts  of  the  ocean  basins,  while  the  return  waters  from 
the  equator  would  spread  themselves  widely  over  the 
surface;  so  that  wherever  the  Arctic  Seas  presented 
areas  a  little  elevated  out  of  the  cold  water  bottom, 


68       THE  STOEY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN 

there  might  be  suitable  abodes  for  coral  animals.  It 
has  been  supposed  that  in  the  Silurian  period  the  sea 
might  have  derived  some  appreciable  heat  from  the 
crust  of  the  earth  below,  and  astronomical  conditions 
have  been  suggested  as  tending  to  produce  changes  of 
climate ;  but  it  is  evident  that  whatever  weight  may  be 
due  to  these  causes,  the  observed  geographical  condi- 
tions are  sufficient  to  account  for  the  facts  of  the  case. 
It  is  also  to  be  observed,  that  we  cannot  safely  infer 
the  requirements  as  to  temperature  of  Silurian  coral 
animals  from  those  of  the  tenants  of  the  modern  ocean. 
In  the  modern  seas  many  forms  of  life  thrive  best 
and  grow  to  the  greatest  size  in  the  colder  seas  ;  and 
in  the  later  tertiary  period  there  were  elephants  and 
rhinoceroses  sufficiently  hardy  to  endure  the  rigours 
of  an  Arctic  climate.  So  there  may  have  been  in  the 
Silurian  seas  corals  of  much  less  delicate  constitution 
than  those  now  living. 

Next  to  the  corals  we  may  place  the  crinoids,  or 
stone-lilies — creatures  abounding  throughout  the  Silu- 
rian seas,  and  realizing  a  new  creative  idea,  to  be 
expanded  in  subsequent  geological  time  into  all  the 
multifarious  types  of  star-fishes  and  sea-urchins.  A 
typical  crinoid,  such  as  the  Glyptocrinus  of  the  Lower 
Silurian,  consists  of  a  flexible  jointed  stem,  sometimes 
several  feet  in  length,  composed  of  short  cylindrical 
discs,  curiously  articulated  together,  a  box-like  body 
on  top  made  up  of  polygonal  pieces  attached  to  each 
other  at  the  edges,  and  five  radiating  jointed  arms 
furnished  with  branches  and  branchlets,  or  fringes,  all 


THE    LOWER   AND   UPPER   SILURIAN   AGES.  69 

articulated  and  capable  of  being  flexed  in  any  direc- 
tion. Such  a  creature  has  more  the  aspect  of  a  flower 
than  of  an  animal ;  yet  it  is  really  an  animal,  and  sub* 
sists  by  collecting  with  its  arms  and  drifting  into  its 
mouth  minute  creatures  floating  in  the  water.  Ano- 
ther group,  less  typical,  but  abundantly  represented  in 
the  Silurian  seas,  is  that  of  the  Cystideans,  in  which 
the  body  is  sack-like,  and  the  arms  few  and  sometimes 
attached  to  the  body.  They  resemble  the  young  or 
larvaa  of  crinoids.  In  the  modern  seas  the  crinoids 
are  extremely  few,  though  dredging  in  very  deep 
water  has  recently  added  to  the  number  of  known 
species;  but  in  the  Silurian  period  they  had  their 
birth,  and  attained  to  a  number  and  perfection  not 
afterwards  surpassed.  Perhaps  the  stone-lilies  of  the 
Upper  Silurian  rocks  of  Dudley,  in  England,  are  the 
most  beautiful  of  Palaeozoic  animals.  Judging  from 
the  immense  quantities  of  their  remains  in  some  lime- 
stones, wide  areas  of  the  sea  bottom  must  have  been 
crowded  with  their  long  stalks  and  flower-like  bodies, 
presenting  vast  submarine  fields  of  these  stony  water- 
lilies. 

Passing  over  many  tribes  of  mollusks,  continued  or 
extended  from  the  Primordial — and  merely  remarking 
that  the  lamp -shells  and  the  ordinary  bivalve  and 
univalve  shell-fishes  are  all  represented  largely,  more 
especially  the  former  group,  in  the  Silurian — we  come 
to  the  highest  of  the  Mollusca,  represented  in  our  seas 
by  the  cuttle-fishes  and  nautili,  creatures  which,  like 
the  crinoids,  may  be  said  to  have  had  their  birth  in 


70  THE    STORY   OF   THE   EAETH   AND   MAN. 

the  Silurian,  and  to  have  there  attained  to  some  of 
their  grandest  forms.  The  modern  pearly  nautilus 
shell,  well  known  in  every  museum,  is  beautifully 
coiled  in  a  disc-like  form,  and  when  sliced  longitudi- 
nally shows  a  series  of  partitions  dividing  it  into 
chambers,  air-tight,  and  serving  as  a  float  to  render 
the  body  of  the  creature  independent  of  the  force  of 
gravity.  As  the  animal  grows  it  retracts  its  body 
toward  the  front  of  the  shell,  and  forms  new  par- 
titions, so  that  the  buoyancy  of  the  float  always 
corresponds  with  the  weight  of  the  animal;  while  by 
the  expansion  and  contraction  of  the  body  and  removal 
of  water  from  a  tube  or  syphon  which  traverses  the 
chambers,  or  the  injection  of  additional  water,  slight 
differences  can  be  effected,  rendering  the  creature  a 
very  little  lighter  or  heavier  than  the  medium  in 
which  it  swims.  Thus  practically  delivered  from  the 
encumbrance  of  weight,  and  furnished  with  long 
flexible  arms  provided  with  suckers,  with  great  eyes 
and  a  horny  beak,  the  nautilus  becomes  one  of  the 
tyrants  of  the  deep,  creeping  on  the  bottom  or 
swimming  on  the  surface  at  will,  and  everywhere 
preying  on  whatever  animals  it  can  master.  Fortu- 
nately for  us,  as  well  as  for  the  more  feeble  inhabit- 
ants of  the  sea,  the  nautili  are  not  of  great  size, 
though  some  of  their  allies,  the  cuttle-fishes,  which, 
however,  want  the  floating  apparatus,  are  sufficiently 
powerful  to  be  formidable  to -man.  In  the  Silurian 
period,  however,  there  were  not  only  nautili  like  ours, 
but  a  peculiar  kind  of  straight  nautilus — the  Orthocer* 


THE    LOWER   AND   UPPER   SILURIAN   AGES.  71 

atites — which  sometimes  attained  to  gigantic  size.  The 
shells  of  these  creatures  may  be  compared  to  those  of 
nautili  straightened  out,  the  chambers  being  placed  in 
a  direct  line  in  front  of  each  other.  A  great  number 
of  species  have  been  discovered,  many  quite  insignifi- 
cant in  size,  but  others  as  much  as  twelve  feet  in 
length  and  a  foot  in  diameter  at  the  larger  end. 
Indeed,  accounts  have  been  given  of  individuals  of 
much  larger  growth.  These  large  Orthoceratites  were 
the  most  powerful  marine  animals  known  to  us  in  the 
Silurian,  and  must  have  been  in  those  days  the  tyrants 
of  the  seas.* 

Among  the  crustaceans,  or  soft  shell-fishes  of  the 
Silurian,  we  meet  with  the  Trilobites,  continued  from 
the  Primordial  in  great  and  increasing  force,  and 
represented  by  many  and  beautiful  species;  while 
an  allied  group  of  shell-fishes  of  low  organization  but 
gigantic  size,  the  Eurypterids,  characteristic  of  the 
Upper  Silurian,  were  provided  with  powerful  limbs, 
long  flexible  bodies,  and  great  eyes  in  the  front  of 
the  head,  and  were  sometimes  several  feet  in  length. 
Instead  of  being  mud  grovellers,  like  the  Trilobites 
and  modern  king-crabs,  these  Eurypterids  must  have 
been  swimmers,  careering  rapidly  through  the  water, 
and  probably  active  and  predaceous.  There  were 

*  Zoologists  will  observe  that  I  have,  in  the  illustration^ 
l^iven  the  Orthoceras  the  arms  rather  of  a  cuttle-fish  than  of  a 
nautilus.  The  form  of  the  outer  chamber  of  the  shell,  I 
think,  warrants  this  view  of  the  structure  of  the  animal,  which 
must  have  been  formed  on  a  very  comprehensive  type. 


72       THE  STORY  OP  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

also  great  multitudes  of  those  little  crustaceans  wliich 
are  inclosed  in  two  horny  or  shelly  valves  like  a 
bivalve  shell-fish,  and  the  remains  of  which  sometimes 
fill  certain  beds  of  Silurian  shale  and  limestone. 

No  remains  found  in  the  Silurian  rocks  have  beeu 
more  fertile  sources  of  discussion  than  the  so-called 
Graptolites,  or  written  stones — a  name  given  long  ago 
by  Linnaeus,  in  allusion  to  the  resemblance  of  some 
species  having  rows  of  cells  on  one  side,  to  minute 
lines  of  writing.  These  little  bodies  usually  appear 
as  black  coaly  stains  on  the  surface  of  the  rock, 
showing  a  slender  stem  or  stalk,  with  a  row  of  little 
projecting  cells  at  one  side,  or  two  rows,  one  on 
each  side.  The  more  perfect  specimens  show  that,  in 
many  of  the  species  at  least,  these  fragments  were 
branches  of  a  complex  organism  spreading  from  a 
centre ;  and  at  this  centre  there  is  sometimes  per- 
ceived a  sort  of  membrane  connecting  the  bases  of 
the  branches,  and  for  which  various  uses  have  been 
conjectured.  The  branches  themselves  vary  much  in 
different  species.  They  may  be  simple  or  divided, 
narrow,  or  broad  and  leaf-like,  with  one  row  of  cells, 
or  two  rows  of  cells.  Hence  arise  generic  distinc- 
tions into  single  and  double  graptolites,  leaf  and  tree 
graptolites,  net  graptolites,  and  so  on.  But  while  it 
is  easy  to  recognise  these  organisms,  and  to  classify 
them  in  species  and  genera,  it  is  not  so  easy  to  say 
what  their  affinities  are  with  modern  things.  They 
are  exclusively  Silurian,  disappearing  altogether  at 
the  close  of  this  period,  and,  so  far  as  we  know,  not 


THE    LOWER   AND    UPPER    SILURIAN   AGES.  73 

succeeded  by  any  similar  creatures  serving  to  connect 
them  with  modern  forms.  Hence  the  most  various 
conjectures  as  to  their  nature.  They  have  been  sup- 
posed to  be  plants,  and  have  been  successively  re- 
ferred to  most  of  the  great  divisions  of  the  lower 
animals.  Most  recently  they  have  been  regarded  by 
Hall,  Nicholson,*  and  others,  who  have  studied  them 
most  attentively,  as  zoophytes  or  hydroids  allied  to  the 
Sertularise,  or  tooth- corallines  and  sea-fir-corallines  of 
our  coasts,  to  the  cell-bearing  branches  of  which  their 
fragments  bear  a  very  close  resemblance.  In  this 
case,  each  of  the  little  cells  or  teeth  at  the  sides  of 
the  fibres  must  have  been  the  abode  of  a  little  polyp, 
stretching  out  its  tentacles  into  the  water,  and  en- 
joying a  common  support  and  nutrition  with  the 
other  polyps  ranged  with  it.  Still  the  mode  of  life 
of  the  community  of  branching  stems  is  uncertain. 
In  some  species  there  is  a  little  radicle  or  spike  at 
the  base  of  the  main  stem,  which  may  have  been  a 
means  of  attachment.  In  others  the  hollow  central 
disk  has  been  conjectured  to  have  served  as  a  float. 
Occurring  as  the  specimens  do  usually  in  shales  and 
slates,  which  must  have  been  muddy  beds,  they  could 
not  have  been  attached  to  stones  or  rocks,  and  they 
must  have  lived  in  clear  water,  either  seated  on  the 
surface  of  the  mud,  attached  to  sea-weeds,  or  floating 
freely  by  means  of  hollow  disks  filled  with  air.  After 
much  thought  on  their  structure  and  mode  of  oc- 

*  See  also  an  able  paper  by  Carruthers,  in  the  Geological 
Magazine,  vol.  v.,  p.  64. 


74       THE  STORY  OP  THE  EAETH  AND  MAN. 

currence,  I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  in  their 
younger  stages  they  were  attached,  but  by  a  very 
slender  thread;  that  at  a  more  advanced  stage  they 
became  free,  and  acquiring  a  central  membranous 
disk  filled  with  air,  floated  by  means  of  this  at  the 
surface,  their  long  branches  trailing  in  the  waters 
below.  They  would  thus  be,  with  reference  to  their 
mode  of  life,  though  not  to  the  details  of  their 
structure,  prototypes  of  the  modern  Portuguese  man- 
of-war,  which  now  drifts  so  gaily  over  the  surface  of 
the  warmer  seas.  I  have  represented  them  in  this 
attitude ;  but  in  case  I  should  be  mistaken,  the  reader 
may  imagine  it  possible  that  they  may  be  adhering 
to  the  lower  surface  of  floating  tangle.  The  head- 
quarters of  the  Graptolites  seem  to  be  in  the  upper 
part  of  the  Cambrian,  and  in  the  Siluro- Cambrian^ 
and  they  are  widely  distributed  in  Europe,  in 
America,  and  in  Australia.  This  very  wide  distribu- 
tion of  the  species  is  probably  connected  with  their 
floating  and  oceanic  habits. 

Lastly,  just  as  the  Silurian  period  was  passing 
away,  we  find  a  new  thing  in  the  earth — vertebrate 
animals,  represented  by  several  species  of  shark-like 
fishes,  which  came  in  here  as  forerunners  of  the 
dynasty  of  the  vertebrates,  which  from  that  day  to 
this  have  been  the  masters  of  the  world.  These 
earliest  vertebrates  are  especially  interesting  as  the 
first  known  examples  of  a  plan  of  structure  which 
culminates  only  in  man  himself.  They  appear  to 
have  had  cartilaginous  skeletons ;  and  in  this  an<3 


THE    LOWER   AND   UPPEE    SILURIAN   AGES.  75 

fcheir  shagreen -like  skin,  strong  bony  spines,  and 
trenchant  teeth,  to  have  much  resembled  our  modern 
sharks,  or  rather  the  dog-fishes,  for  they  were  of 
small  size.  One  genus  (Pteraspis),  apparently  the 
oldest  of  the  whole,  belongs,  however,  to  a  tribe  of 
mailed  fishes  allied  to  some  of  those  of  the  old  red 
sandstone.  In  both  cases  the  groups  of  fishes  repre- 
senting the  first  known  appearance  of  the  vertebrates 
were  allied  to  tribes  of  somewhat  high  organization 
in  that  class ;  and  they  asserted  their  claims  to  domi- 
nancy  by  being  predaceous  and  carnivorous  creatures, 
which  must  have  rendered  themselves  formidable 
to  their  invertebrate  contemporaries.  Coprolites,  or 
fossil  masses  of  excrement,  which  are  found  with 
them,  indicate  that  they  chased  and  devoured  ortho- 
ceratites  and  sea-snails  of  various  kinds,  and  snapped 
LingnlaB  and  crinoids  from  their  stalks ;  and  we  can 
well  imagine  that  these  creatures,  when  once  intro- 
duced, found  themselves  in  rich  pasture  and  increased 
accordingly.  Space  prevents  us  from  following  further 
our  pictures  of  the  animal  life  of  the  great  Silurian 
era,  the  monuments  of  which  were  first  discovered 
by  two  of  England's  greatest  geologists,  Murchison 
and  Sedgwick.  How  imperfect  such  a  notice  must 
be,  may  be  learned  from  the  fact  that  Dr.  Bigsby,  in 
his  "  Thesaurus  Siluricus/'  in  1868,  catalogues  8,897 
Silurian  species,  of  which  only  972  are  known  in  the 
Primordial. 

Our  illustration,  carefully  studied,  may  do  more  to 
present   to   the   reader  the   teeming   swarms   of  the 


76       THE  STOEY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

Silurian  seas  than  our  word- picture,  and  it  includes 
many  animal  forms  not  mentioned  above,  more  especi- 
ally the  curved  and  nautilus-like  cuttle-fishes,  those 
singular  molluscous  swimmers  by  fin  or  float  known 
to  zoologists  as  violet-snails,  winged-snails  or  ptero- 
podsj  and  carinarias;  and  which,  under  various  forms, 
have  existed  from  the  Silurian  to  the  present  time. 
The  old  Lingulce  are  also  there  as  well  as  in  the 
Primordial,  while  the  fishes  and  the  land  vegetation 
belong,  as  far  as  we  yet  know,  exclusively  to  the 
Upper  Silurian,  and  point  forward  to  the  succeeding 
Devonian.  We  know  as  yet  no  Silurian  animal  that 
lived  on  the  land  or  breathed  air.  But  our  knowledge 
of  land  plants,  though  very  meagre,  is  important. 
Without  regarding  such  obscure  and  uncertain  forms 
as  the  Eophyton  of  Sweden,  Hooker,  Page,  and 
Barrande  have  noticed,  in  the  Upper  Silurian,  plants 
allied  to  the  Lycopods  or  club-mosses.  I  have 
found  in  the  same  deposits  another  group  of  plants 
allied  to  Lycopods  and  pill-worts  (Psilophyton),  and 
fragments  of  wood  representing  the  curious  and 
primitive  type  of  pine-like  trees  known  as  Proto- 
taxites.  These  are  probably  only  a  small  instalment 
of  Silurian  land  plants,  such  as  a  voyager  might  find 
floating  in  the  sea  on  his  approach  to  some  unknown 
shore,  which  had  not  yet  risen  above  his  horizon. 
Time  and  careful  search  will,  no  doubt,  add  largely 
to  our  knowledge. 

In  the   Silurian,    as    in    the    Cambrian,    the   head- 
quarters of  animal  life  were  in  the  sea.     Perhaps  there 


THE    LOWER    AND    UPPER    SILURIAN   AGES.  77 

was  no  animal  life  on  the  hir  ">  ;  but  here  our  knowledge 
may  be  at  fault.  It  is,  however,  interesting  to  observe 
the  continued  operation  of  the  creative  fiat,  "Let 
the  waters  swarm  with  swarmers/'  which,  beginning 
to  be  obeyed  in  the  Eozoic  age,  passes  down  through 
all  the  periods  of  geological  time  to  the  "moving 
things  innumerable  "  of  the  modern  ocean.  Can  we 
infer  anything  further  as  to  the  laws  of  creation  from 
these  Silurian  multitudes  of  living  things  ?  One  thing 
we  can  see  plainly,  that  the  life  of  the  Silurian  is 
closely  related  to  that  of  the  Cambrian.  The  same 
generic  and  ordinal  forms  are  continued.  Even  some 
species  may  be  identical.  Does  this  indicate  direct 
genetic  connection,  or  only  like  conditions  in  the 
external  world  correlated  with  likeness  in  the  organic 
world  ?  It  indicates  both.  First,  it  is  in  the  highest 
degree  probable  that  many  of  the  animals  of  the  Lower 
Silurian  are  descendants  of  those  of  the  Cambrian. 
Sometimes  these  descendants  may  be  absolutely 
unchanged.  Sometimes  they  may  appear  as  distinct 
varieties.  Sometimes  they  may  have  been  regarded 
as  distinct  though  allied  species.  The  continuance  in 
this  manner  of  allied  forms  of  life  is  necessarily  related 
to  the  continuance  of  somewhat  similar  conditions 
of  existence,  while  changes  in  type  imply  changed 
external  conditions.  But  is  this  all?  I  think  not; 
for  there  are  forms  of  life  in  the  Silurian  which  cannot 
be  traced  to  the  Cambrian,  and  which  relate  to  new 
and  even  prospective  conditions,  which  the  unaided 
powers  of  the  animals  of  the  earlier  period  couH 


78       THE  STORY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

not  have  provided  for.  These  new  forms  require  the 
intervention  of  a  higher  power,  capable  of  correlating 
the  physical  and  organic  conditions  of  one  period  with 
those  of  succeeding  periods.  Whatever  powers  may 
be  attributed  to  natural  selection  or  to  any  other  con- 
ceivable cause  of  merely  genetic  evolution,  surely  pro- 
phetic gifts  cannot  be  claimed  for  it ;  and  the  life  of  all 
these  geological  periods  is  full  of  mute  prophecies  to 
be  read  only  in  the  light  of  subsequent  fulfilments. 

The  fishes  of  the  Upper  Silurian  are  such  a 
prophecy.  They  can  claim  no  parentage  in  the  older 
rocks,  and  they  appear  at  once  as  kings  of  their  class. 
With  reference  to  the  Silurian  itself,  they  are  of  little 
consequence ;  and  in  the  midst  of  its  gigantic  forms 
of  invertebrate  life  they  seem  almost  misplaced.  But 
they  predict  the  coming  Devonian,  and  that  long  and 
varied  reign  of  vertebrate  life  which  culminates  in  man 
himself.  No  such  prophetic  ideas  are  represented  by 
the  giant  crustaceans  and  cuttle-fishes  and  swarming 
graptolites.  They  had  already  attained  their  maxi- 
mum, and  were  destined  to  a  speedy  and  final  grave  in 
the  Silurian,  or  to  be  perpetuated  only  in  decaying 
families  whose  poverty  is  rendered  more  conspicuous 
by  the  contrast  with  the  better  days  gone  by.  The 
law  of  creation  provided  for  new  types,  and  at  once  for 
the  elevation  and  degradation  of  them  when  introduced ; 
and  all  this  with  reference  to  the  physical  conditions 
not  of  the  present  only  but  of  the  future.  Such  facts, 
which  cannot  be  ignored  save  by  the  wilfully  blind,  are 
beyond  the  reach  of  any  merely  material  philosophy. 


THE   LOWER  AND    JPPER   SILURIAN   AGES.  79 

The  little  that  we  know  of  Silurian  plants  is  as 
eloquent  of  plan  and  creation  as  that  which  we  can 
learn  of  animals.  I  saw  not  long  ago  a  series  of 
genealogies  in  geological  time  reduced  to  tabular  form 
by  that  ingenious  but  imaginative  physiologist, 
Haeckel.  In  one  of  these  appeared  the  imaginary 
derivation  of  the  higher  plants  from  Algae  or  sea- weeds. 
Nothing  could  more  curiously  contradict  actual  facts. 
Algae  were  apparently  in  the  Silurian  neither  more  nor 
less  elevated  than  in  the  modern  seas,  and  those  forms 
of  vegetable  life  which  may  seem  to  bridge  over 
the  space  between  them  and  the  land  plants  in  the 
modern  period,  are  wanting  in  the  older  geological 
periods,  while  land  plants  seem  to  start  at  once  into 
being  in  the  guise  of  club-mosses,  a  group  by  no 
means  of  low  standing.  Our  oldest  land  plants  thus 
represent  one  of  the  highest  types  of  that  cryptogamous 
series  to  which  they  belong,  and  moreover  are  better 
developed  examples  of  that  type  than  those  now  exist- 
ing. We  may  say,  if  we  please,  that  all  the  connecting 
links  have  been  lost;  but  this  is  begging  the  whole 
question,  since  no  thing 'but  the  existence  of  such  links 
could  render  the  hypothesis  of  derivation  possible. 
Further,  the  occurrence  of  any  number  of  successive 
yet  distinct  species  would  not  be  the  kind  of  chain 
required,  or  rather  would  not  be  a  chain  at  all. 

Yet  in  some  respects  development  is  obvious  in 
creation.  Old  forms  of  life  are  often  embryonic,  or 
resemble  the  young  of  modern  animals,  but  enlarged 
and  exaggerated,  as  if  they  had  overgrown  themselves 


80       THE  STOBY  OF  THE  EAETH  AND  MAN. 

and  had  prematurely  become  adult.  Old  forms  are 
often  generalized,  or  less  specific  in  their  adaptations 
than  those  of  modern  times.  There  is  less  division  of 
labour  among  them.  Old  forms  sometimes  not  only 
rise  to  the  higher  places  in  their  groups,  but  usurp 
attributes  which  in  later  times  are  restricted  to  their 
betters.  Old  forms  are  often  gigantic  in  size  in  com- 
parison with  their  modern  successors,  which,  if  they 
could  look  back  on  their  predecessors,  might  say, 
"  There  were  giants  in  those  days/'  Some  old  forms 
have  gone  onward  in  successive  stages  of  elevation  by 
a  regular  and  constant  gradation.  Others  have  re- 
mained as  they  were  through  all  the  ages,  Some  have 
no  equals  in  their  groups  in  modern  days.  All  these 
things  speak  of  order,  but  of  order  along  with  develop- 
ment, and  this  development  not  evolution ;  unless  by 
this  term  we  understand  the  emergence  into  material 
facts  of  the  plans  of  the  creative  mind.  These  plans 
we  may  hope  in  some  degree  to  understand,  though  we 
may  not  be  able  to  comprehend  the  mode  of  action  of 
creative  power  any  more  than  the  mode  in  which  our 
own  thought  and  will  act  upon  the  machinery  of 
our  own  nerves.  Still,  the  power  is  not  the  less  real, 
that  we  are  ignorant  of  its  mode  of  operation.  The 
wind  bloweth  whither  it  listeth,  and  we  feel  its 
strength,  though  we  may  not  be  able  to  calculate  the 
wind  of  to-morrow  or  the  winds  of  last  year.  So  is  the 
Spirit  of  God  when  it  breathes  into  animals  the  breath 
of  life,  or  the  Almighty  word  when  it  says,  "  Let  the 
waters  bring  forth." 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE    DEVONIAN    AGE. 

PARADOXICAL  as  it  may  appear,  this  period  of  geological 
history  has  been  held  as  of  little  account,  and  has  even 
been  by  some  geologists  regarded  as  scarcely  a  distinct 
age,  just  because  it  was  one  of  the  most  striking  and 
important  of  the  whole.  The  Devonian  was  an  age  of 
change  and  transition,  in  both  physical  and  organic 
existence ;  and  an  age  which  introduced,  in  the 
Northern  hemisphere  at  least,  more  varied  conditions 
of  land  and  water  and  climate  than  had  previously 
existed.  Hence,  over  large  areas  of  our  continents, 
its  deposits  are  irregular  and  locally  diverse;  and 
the  duration  and  importance  of  the  period  are  to  be 
measured  rather  by  the  changes  and  alterations  of 
previous  formations,  and  the  ejection  of  masses  of 
molten  rock  from  beneath,  than  by  a  series  of  fossil- 
iferous  deposits.  Nevertheless,  in  some  regions  in 
North  America  and  Eastern  Europe,  the  formations  of 
this  era  are  of  vast  extent  and  volume,  those  of  North 
America  being  estimated  at  the  enormous  thickness  of 
15,000  feet,  while  they  are  spread  over  areas  of  almost 
continental  breadth. 

At  the  close  of  the  Upper  Silurian,  the  vast  con- 
tinental plateaus  of  the  northern  hemisphere  were 
almost  wholly  submerged.  No  previous  marine  lime- 

5      ?§*      • 

>*  OF  THE        - 


82        THE  STOEY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

stone  spreads  more  widely  than  that  of  the  Uppei 
Silurian,  and  in  no  previous  period  have  we  much  less 
evidence  of  the  existence  of  dry  land ;  yet  before  the 
end  of  the  period  we  observe,  in  a  few  fragments 
of  land  plants  scattered  here  and  there  in  the  marine 
limestones — evidence  that  islands  rose  amid  the  waste 
of  waters.  As  it  is  said  that  the  sailors  of  Columbus 
saw  the  first  indications  of  the  still  unseen  Western 
Continent  in  drift  canes,  and  fragments  of  trees  float- 
ing in  mid  ocean,  so  the  voyager  through  the  Silurian 
seas  finds  his  approach  to  the  verdant  shores  of  the 
Devonian  presaged  by  a  few  drift  plants  borne  from 
shores  yet  below  the  horizon.  The  small  remains 
of  land  in  the  Upper  Silurian  were  apparently  limited 
to  certain  clusters  of  islands  in  the  north-eastern  part 
of  America  and  north-western  part  of  Europe,  with 
perhaps  some  in  the  intervening  Atlantic  On  these 
limited  surfaces  grew  the  first  land  plants  certainly 
known  to  us — herbs  and  trees  allied  to  the  modern 
club- mosses,  and  perhaps  forests  of  trees  allied  to  the 
pines,  though  of  humbler  type ;  and  this  wide  Upper 
Silurian  sea,  with  archipelagos  of  wooded  islands,  may 
have  continued  for  a  long  time.  But  with  the  begin- 
ning of  the  Devonian,  indications  of  an  unstable 
condition  of  the  earth's  crust  began  to  develop  them- 
selves. New  lands  were  upheaved ;  great  shallow, 
muddy,  and  sandy  flats  were  deposited  around  them  • 
the  domains  of  corals  and  sea-weeds  were  contracted  • 
and  on  banks,  and  in  shallows  and  estuaries,  there 
svrarmed  shoals  of  fishes  of  many  species,  and  some  of 


THE   DEVONIAN   AGE.  83 

them  of  most  remarkable  organization.  On  the 
margins  of  these  waters  stretched  vast  swamps, 
covered  with  a  rank  vegetation. 

But  the  period  was  one  of  powerful  igneous 
activity.  Volcanoes  poured  out  their  molten  rocks 
over  sea  and  land,  and  injected  huge  dykes  of  trap 
into  the  newly-formed  beds.  The  land  was  shaken 
with  earthquake  throes,  and  was  subject  to  many 
upheavals  and  subsidences.  Violent  waves  desolated 
the  coasts,  throwing  sand  and  gravel  over  the  flatk, 
and  tearing  up  newly-deposited  beds ;  and  poisonous 
exhalations,  or  sudden  changes  of  level,  often  proved 
fatal  to  immense  shoals  of  fishes.  This  was  the 
time  of  the  Lower  Devonian,  and  it  is  marked,  both 
in  the  old  world  and  the  new,  by  extensive  deposits 
of  sandstones  and  conglomerates. 

But  the  changes  going  on  at  the  surface  were  only 
symptomatic  of  those  occurring  beneath.  The  im- 
mense accumulations  of  Silurian  sediment  had  by 
this  time  so  overweighted  certain  portions  of  the 
crust,  that  great  quantities  of  aqueous  sediment  had 
been  pressed  downward  into  the  heated  bowels  of 
the  earth,  and  were  undergoing,  under  an  enormous 
weight  of  superincumbent  material,  a  process  of  bak- 
ing and  semi-fusion.  This  process  was  of  course  ex- 
tremely active  along  the  -margins  of  the  old  Silurian 
plateaus,  and  led  to  great  elevation  of  land,  while  in 
the  more  central  parts  of  the  plateaus  the  oceanic  con- 
ditions still  continued;  and  in  the  Middle  Devonian, 
in  America  at  least,  one  of  the  most  remarkable  and 


84        THE  dTOEY  OP  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN". 

interesting  coral  limestones  in  the  world — the  corni- 
ferous  limestone — was  deposited.  In  process  of  time, 
however,  these  clear  waters  became  shallow,  and  were 
invaded  by  muddy  sediments ;  and  in  the  Upper 
Devonian  the  swampy  flats  and  muddy  shallows  return 
in  full  force,  and  in  some  degree  anticipate  the  still 
greater  areas  of  this  kind  which  existed  in  the  suc- 
ceeding Coal  formation. 

Such  is  a  brief  sketch  of  the  Devonian,  or,  as  it  may 
be  better  called  in  America,  from  the  vast  develop- 
ment of  its  beds  on  the  south  side  of  Lake  Erie,  the 
Erian  formation.  In  America  the  marine  beds  of 
the  Devonian  were  deposited  on  the  same  great  con- 
tinental plateau  which  supported  the  seas  of  the 
Upper  and  Lower  Silurian,  and  the  beds  were  thicker 
towards  the  east  and  thinned  towards  the  west,  as  in 
the  case  of  the  older  serios.  But  in  the  Devonian 
there  was  much,  land  in  the  north-east  of  America ; 
and  on  the  eastern  margin  of  this  land,  as  in  Gaspe 
and  New  Brunswick,  the  deposits  throughout  the 
whole  period  were  sandstones  and  shales,  without 
the  great  coral  limestones  of  the  central  plateau. 
Something  of  the  same  kind  occurred  in  Europe, 
where,  however,  the  area  of  Devonian  sea  was  smaller. 
There  the  fossiliferous  limestones  of  the  Middle 
Devonian  in  Devon,  in  the  Eifel  district,  in  France 
and  in  Russia,  represent  the  great  corniferous  lime- 
stone of  America;  while  the  sandstones  of  South 
Wales,  of  Ireland,  and  of  Scotland,  resemble  the 
local  conditions  of  Gaspe  and  New  Brunswick,  and 


THE    DEVONIAN   AGE. 


85 


belonged  to  a  similar  area  in  the  north-west  of 
Europe,  in  which  shallow  water  and  land  conditions 
prevailed  during  the  whole  of  the  Devonian,  and 
which  was  perhaps  connected  with  the  corresponding 
region  in  Eastern  America  by  a  North  Atlantic  archi- 
pelago, now  submerged.  This  whole  subject  is  so 
important  to  the  knowledge  of  the  Devonian,  and  of 
geology  in  general,  that  I  may  be  pardoned  for 
introducing  it  here  in  a  tabular  form,  taking  the 
European  series  from  Etheridge's  excellent  and 
exhaustive  paper  in  the  "  Journal  of  the  Geological 
Society." 

DEVONIAN  OB  BRIAN. 


DIVISIONS. 

CENTRAL  AREAS. 

Upper   J 

Devon. 

Rhen.  Prussia. 

New  York. 

Pilton  group  :  — 
Brown  calcareous 
shales,  brown  and 
yellow  sandstone. 
Land  plants  and 
marine  shells. 

Clymenia,    Cypri- 
dina,  etc.  Shales, 
limestones,      and 
sandstones. 
Plants    and    ma- 
rine 'shells. 

Chemung  and  Port- 
age.    Sandstones 
and  shales. 
Plants  and  marine 
shells. 

Middle  4 

Ilfracombe  group  :- 
Grey  and  red  sand- 
stones and  flags, 
calcareous    slates 
and     limestones, 
with  corals,  etc. 

Eifel      limestone, 
Calceola     shales, 
etc. 
Corals,  shells,  etc. 

Hamilton    shales, 
and     Corniferous 
or    cherty    lime- 
stone. 
Many  corals    and 
shells,  also  plants. 

Lcwer    - 

Lynton   group  :  — 
Bed    and    purple 
sandstones.    Ma- 
rine shells,  etc. 

Coblentz  and  Wis- 
seubach      shales, 
Rhenish        grey- 
wacke,       Spinier 
sandstone. 
Marine  shells. 

Schoharie         and 
Caudagalli    grits. 
Oriskany      sand- 
stones. 
Marine  shells. 

86 


THE  STOEY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 


DIVISIONS. 

MARGINAL  AREAS. 

Upper  -I 

Scotland. 

Ireland. 

Gasp6  and  New 
Brunswick. 

Yellow     and    red 
sandstones. 
Fishes  and  plants. 

Yellow    and    red 
sandstones,  etc. 
Plants,  fishes,  etc. 

Ked      and      grey 
sandstones,  grits 
and  shales,    and 
conglomerates  of 
Gaspe  and  Mia- 
peck.    Plants. 

Middle  . 

Red    shales     and 
sandstones,   and 
conglomerates. 
Caithness  flags. 
Fishes  and  plants. 

Grits  and    sand- 
stones of  Dingle. 

Grey     and     Red 
sandstones,    and 
grey     and    dark 
shales.       Gaspe 
and  St.  John. 
Many  plants  and 
fishes. 

Lower 

Flagstones,  shales 
and    conglomer- 
ates. 
Fishes  and  plants. 

Glengariff     grits, 
etc. 

Sandstone       and 
conglomerate. 
Plants  and  fishes. 
Gaspe     and     St. 
John. 

A  glance  at  this  table  suffices  to  show  that  when 
we  read  Hngh  Miller's  graphic  descriptions  of  the 
Old  Red  Sandstone  of  Scotland,  with  its  numerous 
and  wonderful  fishes,  we  have  before  us  a  formation 
altogether  distinct  from  that  of  Devonshire  or  the 
Eifel.  But  the  one  represents  the  shallow,  and  the 
other  the  deeper  seas  of  the  same  period.  We 
learn  this  by  careful  tracing  of  the  beds  to  their  junc- 
tion with,  corresponding  series,  and  by  the  occasional 
occurrence  of  the  characteristic  fishes  of  the  Scottish 
strata  in  the  English  and  German  beds.  In  like 
manner  a  geologist  who  explores  the  Gaspe  sand- 
stones or  the  New  Brunswick  shales  has  under  his 


THE   DEVONIAN   AGE.  87 

consideration  a  group  of  beds  very  dissimilar  from 
that  which  he  would  have  to  study  on  the  shores  of 
Lake  Erie.  But  here  again  identity  of  relations  to 
the  Silurian  below  and  the  carboniferous  above, 
shows  the  contemporaneousness  of  the  beds,  and  this 
is  confirmed  by  the  occurrence  in  both  series  of  some 
of  the  same  plants  and  shells  and  fishes. 

It  will  further  be  observed  that  it  is  in  the 
middle  that  the  greatest  difference  occurs.  Sand  and 
mud  and .  pebble-banks  were  almost  universal  over 
our  two  great  continental  plateaus  in  the  Older  and 
Newer  Devonian.  But  in  the  Middle  there  were  in 
some  places  deeper  waters  with  coral  reefs,  in  others 
shallow  flats  and  swamps  rich  in  vegetation.  Herein 
we  see  the  greater  variety  and  richness  of  the  De- 
vonian. Had  we  lived  in  that  age,  we  should  not 
have  seen  great  continents  like  those  that  now  exist, 
but  we  could  have  roamed  over  lovely  islands  with 
breezy  hills  and  dense  lowland  jungles,  and  we  could 
have  sailed  over  blue  coral  seas,  glowing  below  with 
all  the  fanciful  forms  and  brilliant  colours  of  polyp 
life,  and  filled  with  active  and  beautiful  fishes. 
Especially  did  all  these  conditions  culminate  in  the 
Middle  Devonian,  when  what  are  now  the  continental 
areas  of  the  northern  hemisphere  must  have  much 
resembled  the  present  insular  and  oceanic  regions 
of  the  South  Pacific. 

Out  of  the  rich  and  varied  life  of  the  Devonian  1 
may  select  for  illustration  its  corals,  its  crustaceans, 
its  fishes,  its  plants,  and  its  insects. 


M 


THE    DEVONIAN   AGE.  89 

The  central  limestones  of  the  Devonian  may  be 
regarded  as  the  head-quarters  of  the  peculiar  types 
of  coral  characteristic  of  the  Palaeozoic  age.  Here 
they  were  not  only  vastly  numerous,  but  present 
some  of  their  grandest  and  also  their  most  peculiar 
forms.  Edwards  and  Haime,  in  their  "Monograph 
of  British  Fossil  Corals/'  in  1854,  enumerate  one 
hundred  and  fifty  well-ascertained  species,  and  the 
number  has  since  been  largely  increased;  I  have 
no  doubt  that  my  friend  Dr.  Bigsby,  in  his  forth- 
coming (t  Thesaurus  Devonicus,"  will  more  than 
double  it.  In  the  Devonian  limestones  of  England, 
as  for  instance  at  Torquay,  the  specimens,  though 
abundant  and  well  preserved  as  to  their  internal 
structure,  are  too  firmly  imbedded  in  the  rock  to 
show  their  external  forms.  In  the  Devonian  of  the 
continent  of  Europe  much  finer  specimens  occur ;  but, 
perhaps,  in  no  part  of  the  world  is  there  so  clear  an 
exhibition  of  them  as  in  the  Devonian  limestones  of 
the  United  States  and  Canada.  Sir  Charles  Lyell  thus 
expresses  his  admiration  of  the  exposure  of  these 
corals,  which  he  saw  at  the  falls  of  the  Ohio,  near 
Louisville.  He  says,  "Although  the  water  was  not 
at  its  lowest,  I  saw  a  grand  display  of  what  may  be 
termed  an  ancient  coral-reef,  formed  by  zoophytes 
which  flourished  in  a  sea  of  earlier  date  than  the 
Carboniferous  period.  The  ledges  of  horizontal 
limestone,  over  which  the  water  flows,  belong  to 
the  Devonian  group,  and  the  softer  parts  of  the  stone 
have  decomposed  and  wasted  away,  so  that  the 

5* 


90        THE  STORI  OP  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

harder  calcareous  corals  stand  out  in  relief.  Many 
branches  of  these  zoophytes  project  from  their  erect 
stems  precisely  as  if  they  were  living.  Among  other 
species  I  observed  large  masses,  not  less  than  five 
feet  in  diameter,  of  Favosites  Gothlandica,  with  its 
beautiful  honeycomb  structure  well  displayed.  There 
was  also  the  cup-shaped  Cyathophyllum,  and  the 
delicate  network  of  Fenestella,  and  that  elegant  and 
well-known  European  species  of  fossil,  the  chain  coral, 
Catenipora  escharoides ,  with  a  profusion  of  others  which 
it  would  be  tedious  to  all  but  the  geologist  to  enume- 
rate. Although  hundreds  of  fine  specimens  have 
been  detached  from  these  rocks  to  enrich  the  museums 
of  Europe  and  America,  another  crop  is  constantly 
working  its  way  out  under  the  action  of  the  stream, 
and  of  the  sun  and  rain  in  the  warm  season  when 
the  channel  is  laid  dry."*  These  limestones  have 
been  estimated  to  extend,  as  an  almost  continuous 
coral  reef,  over  the  enormous  area  of  five  hundred 
thousand  square  miles  of  the  now  dry  and  inland 
surface  of  the  great  American  continental  plateau. 
The  limestones  described  by  Sir  Charles  are  known 
in  the  Western  States  as  the  "  Cliff  limestone."  In 
the  State  of  New  York  and  in  Western  Canada  the 
"  Corniferous  limestone,"  so  called  from  the  masses 
of  hornstone,  like  the  flint  of  the  English  chalk, 
contained  in  it,  presents  still  more  remarkable 
features.  The  corals  which  it  contains  have  been 

*  "Travels  in  North  America."  second  series. 


THE    DEVONIAN   AGE.  91 

replaced  by  the  siliceous  or  flinty  matter  in  such  a 
manner  that,  when  the  surrounding  limestone  weathers 
away,  they  remain  projecting  in  relief  in  all  the 
beauty  of  their  original  forms.  Not  only  so,  but  on 
the  surface  of  the  country  they  remain  as  hard 
siliceous  stones,  and  may  be  found  in  ploughing  the 
soil  and  in  stone  fences  and  roadside  heaps,  so  that 
tons  of  them  could  often  be  collected  over  a  very 
limited  space.  When  only  partly  disengaged  from 
the  matrix,  the  process  may  be  completed  by  im- 
mersing them  in  a  dilute  acid.  The  beauty  of  these 
specimens  when  thus  prepared  is  very  great — not 
at  all  inferior  to  that  of  modern  corals,  which  they 
often  much  resemble  in  general  form,  though  dif- 
fering in  details  of  structure.  One  of  the  most 
common  forms  is  that  of  the  Favosites,  or  honeycomb 
coral,  presenting  regular  hexagonal  cells  with  trans- 
verse floors  or  tabulae.  Of  these  there  are  Severn,! 
species,  usually  flat  or  massive  in  form;  but  one 
species,  F.  polymorpha,  branches  out  like  the  modern 
stag-horn  corals.  Another  curious  form,  Michelina, 
looks  exactly  like  a  mass  of  the  papery  cells  of  the 
great  American  hornet  in  a  petrified  state,  and  the 
convex  floors  simulate  the  covers  of  the  cells,  so  that 
it  is  quite  common  to  find  them  called  fossil  wasps'* 
nests.  Some  of  the  largest  belong  to  the  genus 
Philipsastrea  or  Smithia,  which  Hugh  Miller  has 
immortalized  by  comparing  its  crowded  stars,  with 
confluent  rays,  to  the  once-popular  calico  pattern 
known  as  te Lane's  net" — a  singular  instance  of  tho 


92        THE  STORY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

accidental  concurrence  of  a  natural  and  artificial  design. 
Another  very  common  type  is  that  of  the  conical 
Zaphrentis,  with  a  deep  cut  at  top  to  lodge  the  body 
of  the  animal,  whose  radiating  chambers  are  faithfully 
represented  by  it's  delicate  Iamella3.  Perhaps  the 
most  delicate  of  the  whole  is  the  Syringopora,  with 
its  cylindrical  worm-like  pipes  bound  together  by 
transverse  processes,  and  which  sometimes  can  be 
dissolved  out  in  all  its  fragile  perfection  by  the  action 
of  an  acid  on  a  mass  of  Corniferous  limestone  filled 
with  these  corals  in  a  silicified  state. 

These  Devonian  corals,  like  those  of  the  Silurian, 
belong  to  the  great  extinct  groups  of  Tabulate  and 
Rugose  corals ;  groups  which  present,  on  the  one  hand, 
points  of  resemblance  to  the  ordinary  coral  animals  of 
the  modern  seas,  and,  on  the  other,  to  those  somewhat 
exceptional  corals,  the  Millepores,  which  are  produced 
by  another  kind  of  polyp,  the  Hydroids.  Some  of 
them  obviously  combine  properties  belonging  to  both, 
as,  for  example,  the  radiating  partitions  with  the 
arrangement  of  the  parts  in  multiples  of  four,  the 
horizontal  floors,  and  the  external  solid  wall ;  and  this 
fact  countenances  the  conclusion  that  in  these  old 
corals  we  have  a  group  of  high  and  complex  organiz- 
ation, combining  properties  now  divided  between  two 
great  groups  of  animals,  neither  of  them  probably, 
either  in  their  stony  skeletons  or  the  soft  parts  of  the 
animal,  of  as  high  organization  as  their  Paleozoic 
predecessors.  This  sort  of  disintegration  of  compo- 
site types,  or  dissolution  of  old  partnerships,  seems 


THE   DEVONIAN   AGE.  93 

to  liave  been  no  unusual  occurrence  in  the  history  of 
life.* 

If  the  Devonian  witnessed  the  culmination  of  the 
Palaeozoic  corals,  its  later  stages  saw  the  final  de- 
cadence of  the  great  dynasty  of  the  Trilobites.  Of 
these  creatures  there  are  in  the  Devonian  some  large 
and  ornate  species,  remarkable  for  their  spines  and 
tubercles ;  as  if  in  this,  the  latter  day  of  their  do- 
minion, they  had  fallen  into  habits  of  luxurious  deco- 
ration unknown  to  their  sterner  predecessors,  and  at 
the  same  time  had  found  it  necessary  to  surround 
their  now  disputed  privileges  with  new  safeguards  of 
defensive  armour.  Not  improbably  the  decadence 
of  the  Trilobites  may  have  been  connected  with  the 
introduction  of  the  numerous  and  formidable  fishes  of 
the  period. 

But  while  the  venerable  race  of  the  Trilobites  was 
preparing  to  fight  its  last  and  unsuccessful  battle, 
another  and  scarcely  less  ancient  tribe  of  crustaceans, 
the  Eurypterids,  already  strong  in  the  Silurian,  was 
armed  with  new  and  formidable  powers.  The 
Pterygotus  anglicus,  which  should  have  been  named 
scoticus,  since  its  head- quarters  are  in  Scotland,  was 
in  point  of  size  the  greatest  of  known  crustaceans, 
recent  or  fossil.  According  to  Mr.  Henry  Woodward, 
who  has  published  an  admirable  description  and 
figures  of  the  creature  in  the  Palseontographical 

*  Verril  has  suggested  that  the  Tabulata  may  be  divided 
into  two  groups,  one  referable  to  Actinoids,  the  other  ta 
Ilydroids. 


94        THE  STORY  OP  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

Society's  Memoirs,  it  must  have  been  six  feet  in 
length,  and  nearly  two  feet  in  breadth.  Its  antennae 
were,  unlike  the  harmless  feelers  of  modern  Crustacea, 
armed  with  powerful  claws.  Two  great  eyes  stood 
in  the  front  of  the  head,  and  two  smaller  ones  on 
the  top.  It  had  four  pairs  of  great  serrated  jaws, 
the  largest  as  wide  as  a  man's  hand.  At  the  sides 
were  a  pair  of  powerful  paddles,  capable  of  urging 
it  swiftly  through  the  water  as  it  pursued  its  prey ; 
and  when  attacked  by  any  predaceous  fish,  it  could 
strike  the  water  with  its  broad  tail,  terminated  by  a 
great  flat  "telson,"  and  retreat  backward  with  the 
rapidity  of  an  arrow.  Woodward  says  it  must  have 
been  the  ' '  shark  of  the  Devonian  seas  ; "  rather,  it  was 
the  great  champion  of  the  more  ancient  family  of  the 
lobsters,  set  to  arrest,  if  possible,  the  encroachments 
of  the  coming  sharks. 

The  Trilobites  and  Eurypterids  constitute  a  hard 
case  for  the  derivationists.  Unlike  those  Melchi- 
sedeks,  the  fishes  of  the  Silurian,  which  are  without 
father  or  mother,  the  Devonian  crustaceans  may  boast 
of  their  descent,  but  they  have  no  descendants.  No 
distinct  link  connects  them  with  any  modern  crusta- 
ceans except  the  Limuli,  or  horse-shoe  crabs;  and  here 
the  connection  is  most  puzzling,  for  while  there 
seems  some  intelligible  resemblance  between  the  adult 
Eurypterids  and  the  horse-shoe,  or  king-crabs,  the 
latter,  in  their  younger  state,  rather  resemble  Trilo- 
bites, as  Dr.  Packard  has  recently  shown.  Thus 
the  two  great  tribes  of  Eurypterids  and  Trilobites 


THE    DEVONIAN   AGE.  95 

have  united  in  the  small  modern  group  of  king-crabs, 
while  on  the  other  hand,  there  are  points  of  resemblance, 
as  already  stated,  between  Trilobites  and  Isopods,  and 
the  king-crabs  had  already  begun  to  exist,  since  one 
species  is  now  known  in  the  Upper  Silurian.  So 
puzzling  are  these  various  relationships,  that  one 
naturalist  of  the  derivationist  school  has  recently 
attempted  to  solve  the  difficulty  by  suggesting  that 
the  Trilobites  are  allied  to  the  spiders  !  Thus  nature 
sports  with  our  theories,  showing  us  in  some  cases,  as 
in  the  corals  and  fishes,  partnerships  split  up  into 
individuals,  and  in  others  distinct  lines  of  being  con- 
verging and  becoming  lost  in  one  slender  thread. 
Barrande,  the  great  paleontologist  of  Bohemia,  has 
recently,  in  an  elaborate  memoir  on  the  Trilobites, 
traced  these  and  other  points  through  all  their  struc- 
tures and  their  whole  succession  in  geological  time 
thereby  elaborating  a  most  powerful  inductive  argu- 
ment against  the  theory  of  evolution,  and  concluding 
that,  so  far  from  the  history  of  these  creatures  favour- 
ing such  a  theory,  it  seems  as  if  expressly  contrived 
to  exclude  its  possibility. 

But,  while  the  gigantic  Eurypterids  and  ornate 
Trilobites  of  the  Devonian  were  rapidly  approaching 
their  end,  a  few  despised  little  crustaceans, — repre- 
sented by  the  Amphipeltis  of  New  Brunswick  and 
Kampecaris  of  Scotland, — were  obscurely  laying  the 
foundation  of  a  new  line  of  beings,  that  of  the  Stoma- 
pods,  destined  to  culminate  in  the  Squillas  and  their 
allies,  which,  however  different  in  structure,  are 


96        THE  STORY  OP  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

practically  the  Eurypterids  of  the  modern  ocean.     So 
change  the  dynasties  of  men  and  animals. 

".Thou  takest  away  their  breath,  they  die, 

They  return  to  their  dust ; 
Thou  sendest  forth  Thy  Spirit, 

They  are  created ; 
Thou  renewest  the  form  of  the  earth." 


The  reign  of  fishes  began  in  the  Upper  Silurian,  for 
in  the  rocks  of  this  age,  more  especially  in  England, 
several  species  have  been  found.  They  occur,  how- 
ever, only  in  the  newer  beds  of  this  formation,  and 
are  not  of  large  size,  nor  very  abundant.  It  is  to  be 
observed  that,  in  so  far  as  the  fragments  discovered 
can  be  interpreted,  they  indicate  the  existence  already 
of  two  distinct  types  of  fishes,  the  Ganoids,  or  gar- 
fishes, protected  with  bony  plates  and  scales,  and  the 
Placoids,  or  shark-like  fishes  ;  and  that  in  the  existing 
world  these  fishes  are  regarded  as  occupying  a  high 
place  in  their  class.  Further,  these  two  groups  of 
fishes  are  those  which  throughout  a  large  portion  of 
geological  time  continue  to  prevail  to  the  exclusion 
of  other  types,  the  ordinary  bony  fishes  having  been 
introduced  only  in  comparatively  recent  periods. 
With  the  Devonian,  however,  there  comes  a  vast 
increase  to  the  finny  armies ;  and  so  characteristic 
are  these  that  the  Devonian  has  been  called  the  age 
of  fishes  par  excellence,  and  we  must  try,  with  the 
help  of  our  illustration,  to  paint  these  old  inhabitants 
of  the  waters  as  distinctly  as  we  can.  Among  the 


TttJfi   DEVONIAN   AGE.  97 

most  ancient  and  curious  of  these  fishes  are  those 
singular  forms  covered  with  broad  plates,  of  which 
the  Pteraspis  of  the  Upper  Silurian  is  the  herald,  and 
which  are  represented  in  the  Lower  Devonian  by 
several  distinct  genera.  Of  these,  one  of  the  most 
curious  is  the  Cephalaspis,  or  buckler-head,  dis- 
tinguished by  its  broad  flat  head,  rounded  in  front 
and  prolonged  at  the  sides  into  two  great  spines, 
which  project  far  beyond  the  sides  of  the  com- 
paratively slender  body.  This  fish,  it  may  be  men- 
tioned, is  the  type  of  a  family  highly  characteristic 
of  the  Lower  Devonian,  as  well  as  of  the  Upper 
Silurian,  and  all  of  which  are  provided  with  large 
plate-like  cephalic  coverings,  sometimes  with  a  long 
snout  in  front,  and,  in  so  far  as  is  known,  a  com- 
paratively weak  body  and  tail.  They  were  all  pro- 
bably ground-living  creatures,  feeding  on  worms  and 
shell-fishes,  and  "  rooting"  for  these  in  the  mud,  or 
burrowing  therein  for  their  safety.  In  these  respects 
they  have  a  most  curious  analogy  to  the  Trilobites, 
which  in  habits  they  must  have  greatly  resembled, 
though  belonging  by  their  structure  to  an  entirely 
different  and  much  higher  class.  So  close  is  this 
resemblance,  that  their  head-shields  used  to  be  mis- 
taken for  those  of  Trilobites.  The  case  is  one  of 
those  curious  analogies  which  often  occur  in  nature, 
and  which  must  always  be  distinguished  from  the 
true  affinities  which  rest  on  structural  resemblances. 
Another  group  of  small  fishes,  likewise  cuirassed  in 
bony  armour  of  plates,  may  be  represented  by  the 


98        THE  STOKY  OP  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

PtericWiys,  with  its  two  strong  bony  fins  at  the  sides, 
which  may  have  served  for  swimming,  but  probably 
also  for  defence,  and  for  creeping  on  or  shovelling 
up  the  mud  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea.  But,  besides 
the  Ganoids  which  were  armed  in  plated  cuirasses, 
there  were  others,  active  and  voracious,  clad  in 
shining  enamelled  scales,  like  the  bony  pikes  of  the 
American  rivers  and  the  Polypterus  of  the  Nile. 
Some  of  these,  like  the  Diplacantlms,  or  "  double- 
spine/'  were  of  small  size,  and  chiefly  remarkable 
for  their  sharp  defensive  bony  spines.  Others,  like 
Holoptycliius  (wrinkled-scale)  and  Osteolepis  (bone- 
scale),  were  strongly  built,  and  sometimes  of  great 
size.  One  Russian  species  of  Asterolepis  (star-scale) 
is  supposed  to  have  been  twenty  feet  in  length,  and 
furnished  with  strong  and  trenchant  teeth  in  two 
rows.  These  great  fishes  afford  a  good  reason  for 
the  spines  and  armour-plates  of  the  contemporary 
trilobites  and  smaller  fishes.  Just  as  man  has  been 
endeavouring  to  invent  armour  impenetrable  to  shot, 
for  soldiers  and  for  ships,  and,  on  the  other  hand, 
shot  and  shells  that  can  penetrate  any  armoury  so 
nature  has  always  presented  the  spectacle  of"  the 
most  perfect  defensive  apparatus  matched  with  the 
most  perfect  weapons  for  destruction.  In  the  class 
of  fishes,  no  age  of  the  world  is  more  eminent  in 
these  respects  than  the  Devonian.*  In  addition 

*  Many  of  these  were  discovered  and  successfully  displayed 
and  described  by  Hugh  Miller,  and  are  graphically  portrayed 
in  his  celebrated  work  on  the  "  Old  Red  Sandstone,"  published 
in  1841. 


THE    DEVONIAN   AGE.  99 

fco  these  fishes,  there  were  others,  represented  prin- 
cipally by  their  strong  bony  spines,  which  must 
have  been  allied  to  some  of  the  families  of  modern 
sharks,  most  of  them,  however,  probably  to  that  com- 
paratively harmless  tribe  which,  furnished  with  flat 
teeth,  prey  upon  shell-fishes.  There  are  other  fishes 
difficult  to  place  in  our  systems  of  classification;  and 
among  these  an  eminent  example  is  the  huge 
Dinichthys  of  Newberry,  from  the  Hamilton  group  of 
Ohio.  The  head  of  this  creature  is  more  than  three 
feet  long  and  eighteen  inches  broad,  with  the  bones 
extraordinarily  strong  and  massive.  In  the  upper 
jaw,  in  addition  to  strong  teeth,  there  were  in  front 
two  huge  sab  re -shaped  tusks  or  incisors,  each  nearly  a 
foot  long ;  and  corresponding  to  these  in  the  massive 
lower  jaw  were  two  closely  joined  conical  tusks,  fitting 
between  those  of  the  upper  jaw.  No  other  fish 
presents  so  frightful  an  apparatus  for  destruction  ;  and 
if,  as  is  probable,  this  was  attached  to  a  powerful 
body,  perhaps  thirty  feet  in  length,  and  capable  of 
rapid  motion  through  the  water,  we  cannot  imagine 
any  creature  so  strong  or  so  well  armed  as  to  cope 
with  the  mighty  Dimchthys. 

The  difference  between  the  fishes  of  the  Devonian 
and  those  of  the  modern  seas  is  well  marked  by  the 
fact  that,  while  the  ordinary  bony  fishes  now  amount 
to  probably  9,000  species,  and  the  ganoid  fishes  to 
less  than  thirty,  the  finny  tribes  of  the  Devonian  are 
predominantly  ganoids,  and  none  of  the  ordinary  type 
are  known.  To  what  is  this  related,  with  reference 


100      THE  STOEY  OF  THE  EAETH  AND  MAN. 

to  conditions  of  existence  ?  Two  explanations,  dif- 
ferent yet  mutually  connected,  may  be  suggested. 
One  is  that  armour  was  especially  useful  in  the 
Devonian  as  a  means  of  defence  from  the  larger  pre- 
daceous  species,  and  the  gigantic  crustaceans  of  the 
period.  That  this  was  the  case  may  be  inferred  from 
the  conditions  of  existence  of  some  modern  ganoids. 
The  common  bony  pike  of  Canada  (Lepidosteus) ,  fre- 
quenting shallow  and  stagnant  waters,  seems  to  be 
especially  exposed  to  injury  from  its  enemies.  Con- 
sequently, while  it  is  rare  to  find  an  ordinary  fish 
showing  any  traces  of  wounds,  a  large  proportion  of 
the  specimens  of  the  bony  pike  which  I  have  ex- 
amined have  scars  on  their  scales,  indicating  injuries 
which  they  have  experienced,  and  which  possibly,  to 
fishes  not  so  well  armed,  might  have  proved  fatal. 
Again,  in  the  modern  Amia,  or  mud-fish,  in  the  bony 
pike  and  Polypterus,  there  is  an  extremely  large  air- 
bladder,  amply  supplied  with  blood-vessels,  and  even 
divided  into  cells  or  chambers,  and  communicating 
with  the  mouth  by  an  "  air-duct."  This  organ  is 
unquestionably  in  function  a  lung,  and  enables  the 
animal  to  dispense*in  some  degree  with  the  use  of  its 
gills,  which  of  course  depend  for  their  supply  of  vital 
air  on  the  small  quantity  of  oxygen  dissolved  in  the 
water.  Hence,  by  the  power  of  partially  breathing 
air,  these  fishes  can  live  in  stagnant  and  badly  aerated 
waters,  where  other  fishes  would  perish.  In  the  case 
of  the  Amia,  the  grunting  noises  which  it  utters, 
its  habit  of  frequenting  the  muddy  creeks  of  swamps, 


THE    DEVONIAN   AGE.  101 

and  its  possession  of  gill -cleaners,  correspond  with 
this  view.  It  is  possible  that  the  Devonian  fishes 
possessed  this  semi- reptilian  respiration;  and  if  so, 
they  would  be  better  adapted  than  other  fishes  tc 
live  in  water  contaminated  with  organic  matter  in  a 
state  of  decay,  or  in  waters  rich  in  carbonic  acid  oj 
deficient  in  oxygen.  Possibly  the  palaeozoic  waters, 
as  well  as  the  palaeozoic  atmosphere,  were  less  rich  in 
pure  oxygen  than  those  of  the  present  world;  and  it 
is  certain  that,  in  many  of  the  beds  in  which  the 
smaller  Devonian  fishes  abound,  there  was  so  much 
decaying  vegetable  matter  as  to  make  it  probable 
that  the  water  was  unfit  for  the  ordinary  fishes. 
Thus,  though  at  first  sight  the  possession  of  external 
armour  and  means  to  respire  air,  in  the  case  of  these 
peculiar  fishes,  may  seem  to  have  no  direct  connection 
with  each  other,  their  obvious  correlation  in  some 
modern  ganoids  may  have  had  its  parallel  on  a  more 
extensive  scale  among  their  ancient  relatives.  Just 
as  the  modern  gar-fish,  by  virtue  of  its  lungs,  can 
live  in  stagnant  shallows  and  hunt  frogs,  but  on  that 
account  needs  strong  armour  to  defend  it  against  the 
foes  that  assail  it  in  such  places;  so  in  the  Devonian 
the  capacity  to  inhabit  unaerated  water  and  defensive 
plates  and  scales  may  have  been  alike  necessary, 
especially  to  the  feebler  tribes  of  fishes.  We  shall 
find  that  in  the  succeeding  carboniferous  period  there 
is  equally  good  evidence  of  this. 

We   have   reserved   little   space  for   the   Devonian 
plants  and  insects ;  but  we  may  notice  both  in  a  walk 


102      THE  STOKY  OP  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

through  a  Devonian  forest,  in  which  we  may  include 
the  vegetation  of  the  several  subordinate  periods  into 
which  this  great  era  was  divisible.  The  Devonian 
woods  were  probably,  like  those  of  the  succeeding 
carboniferous  period,  dense  and  dark,  composed  of 
but  few  species  of  plants,  and  these  somewhat  mono- 
tonous in  appearance,  and  spreading  out  into  broad 
swampy  jungles,  encroaching  on  the  shallow  bays  and 
estuaries.  Landing  on  one  of  these  flats,  we  may 
first  cast  our  eyes  over  a  wide  expanse,  covered  with 
what  at  a  distance  we  might  regard  as  reeds  or  rushes. 
But  on  a  near  approach  they  appear  very  different; 
rising  in  slender,  graceful  stems,  they  fork  again  and 
again,  and  their  thin  branches  are  sparsely  covered 
with  minute  needle-like  leaves,  while  the  young  shoots 
curl  over  in  graceful  tresses,  and  the  older  are  covered 
with  little  oval  fruits,  or  spore-cases ;  for  these  plants 
are  cryptogamous,  or  flowerless.  This  singular  vege- 
tation stretches  for  miles  along  the  muddy  flats,  and 
rises  to  a  height  of  two  or  three  feet  from  a  knotted 
mass  of  cylindrical  roots  or  root- stocks,  twining  like 
snakes  through  and  over  the  soil.  This  plant  may, 
according  as  we  are  influenced  by  its  fruit  or  struc- 
ture, be  regarded  as  allied  to  the  modern  club -mosses 
or  the  modern  pill-worts.  It  is  PsilopJiyton,  in  every 
country  one  of  the  most  characteristic  plants  of  the 
period,  though,  when  imperfectly  preserved,  often 
relegated  by  careless  and  unskilled  observers  to  the 
all-engulfing  group  of  fucoids.  A  little  further  inland 
we  see  a  grove  of  graceful  trees,  forking  like  Psi- 


THE    DEVONIAN    AGE. 


103 


lophyton,  but  of  grander  dimensions,  and  with  the 
branches  covered  with  linear  leaves,  and  sometimes 
terminated  by  cones.  These  are  Lepidodendra,  gigan- 


Fig.   12.— TIGMATIGN   Ot  1HB  TTTOXIAW. 

To  the  left  are  Calmnites;  next  to  these,  Leftophleum ;  in  the  centre  are 
Lcjjiiiode?idron,  SigtUario,  and  a  Pine.  Belcw  are  Psilophyton,  Cordaites,  Feni^i 
Mid  AsterophyUiteg. 


104       THE  STORY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

tic  club-mosses,  which  were  developed  to  still  greater 
dimensions  in  the  coal  period.  Near  these  we  may 
see  a  still  more  curious  tree,  more  erect  in  its  growth, 
with  rounded  and  somewhat  rigid  leaves  and  cones 
of  different  form,  and  with  huge  cable-like  roots, 
penetrating  the  mud,  and  pitted  with  the  marks  of 
long  rootlets.  This  is  Cyclostigma,  a  plant  near  to 
the  Lepidodendron,  but  distinct,  and  peculiar  to  the 
Devonian.  Some  of  its  species  attain  to  the  dimen- 
sions of  considerable  trees ;  others  are  small  and 
shrubby.  Another  small  tree,  somewhat  like  the 
others,  but  with  very  long  shaggy  leaves,  and  its 
bark  curiously  marked  with  regular  diamond-shaped 
scars,  is  the  Leptophleum.  All  these  plants  are  pro- 
bably allied  to  our  modern  club-mosses,  which  are, 
however,  also  represented  by  some  low  and  creeping 
species  cleaving  to  the  ground.  A  little  further,  and 
we  reach  a  dense  clump  of  Sigillarite,  with  tall  sparsely 
forking  stems,  and  ribbed  with  ridges  holding  rows 
of  leaf-scars — a  group  of  plants  which  we  shall  have 
further  occasion  to  notice  in  the  coal  formation ;  and 
here  is  an  extensive  jungle  of  Calamites,  gigantic 
and  overgrown  mares' -tails,  allies  of  the  modern 
equisetums. 

Amidst  these  trees,  every  open  glade  is  filled  with 
delicate  ferns  of  marvellous  grace  and  beauty;  and 
here  and  there  a  tree-fern  rears  its  head,  crowned 
with  its  spreading  and  graceful  leaves,  and  its  trunk 
clad  with  a  shaggy  mass  of  aerial  roots — an  ol<l 
botanical  device,  used  in  these  ancient  times,  as  well 


THE    DEVONIAN   AGE.  105 

as  now,  to  strengthen  and  protect  the  stems  of  trees 
not  fitted  for  lateral  expansion.  Beyond  this  mass 
of  vegetation,  and  rising  on  the  slopes  of  the  distant 
hills,  we  see  great  trees  that  look  like  pines.  We 
cannot  approach  them  more  nearly;  but  here  on  the 
margin  of  a  creek  we  see  some  drift-trunks,  that 
have  doubtless  been  carried  down  by  a  land  flood. 
One  of  them  is  certainly  a  pine,  in  form  and  structure 
of  its  wood  very  like  those  now  living  in  the  southern 
hemisphere ;  it  is  a  Dadoxylon.  Another  is  different, 
its  sides  rough  and  gnarled,  and  marked  with  huge 
irregular  ridges;  its  wood  loose,  porous,  and  stringy, 
more  like  the  bark  of  modern  pines,  yet  having  rings 
of  growth  and  a  true  bark  of  its  own,  and  sending 
forth  large  branches  and  roots.  It  is  the  strange  and 
mysterious  Prototaxites,  one  of  the  wonders  of  the 
Devonian  land,  and  whose  leaves  and  fruits  would 
be  worth  their  weight  in  gold  in  our  museums,  could 
we  only  procure  them.  A  solitary  fragment  further 
indicates  that  in  the  yet  unpenetrated  solitudes  of  the 
Devonian  forests  there  may  be  other  trees  more  like 
our  ordinary  familiar  friends  of  the  modern  woods  ; 
but  of  these  we  know  as  yet  but  little.  'What  in- 
habitants have  these  forests  ?  All  that  we  yet  know 
are  a  few  large  insects,  relatives  of  our  modern  May- 
flies, flitting  with  broad  veined  wings  over  the 
stagnant  waters  in  which  their  worm-like  larvae  dwell, 
and  one  species  at  least  assuming  one  of  the  properties 
of  the  grasshopper  tribe,  and  enlivening  the  otherwise 
silent  groves  with  a  cricket-like  chirp,  the  oldest 


106      THfl  STOEY  01  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

music  of  living  things  that  geology  as  yet  reveals  to 
us ;  and  this,  not  by  the  hearing  of  the  sound  itself, 
but  by  the  poor  remains  of  the  instrument  attached 
to  a  remnant  of  a  wing  from  the  Devonian  shales  of 
New  Brunswick. 

A  remarkable  illustration  of  the  abundance  of  cer- 
tain plants  in  the  Devonian,  and  also  of  the  slow  and 
gradual  accumulation  of  some  of  its  beds,  is  furnished 
by  layers  of  fossil  spore-cases,  or  the  minute  sacs 
which  contain  the  microscopic  germs  of  club-mosses 
and  similar  plants.  In  the  American  forests,  in 
spring,  the  yellow  pollen-grains  of  spruces  and  pines 
sometimes  drift  away  in  such  quantities  in  the  breeze 
that  they  fall  in  dense  showers,  popularly  called 
showers  of  sulphur;  and  this  vegetable  sulphur, 
falling  in  lakes  and  ponds,  is  drifted  to  the  shore 
in  great  sheets  and  swathes.  The  same  thing  appears 
to  have  occurred  in  the  Devonian,  not  with  the  pollen 
of  flowering  plants,  but  with  the  similar  light  spores 
and  spore-cases  of  species  of  Lepidodendron  and 
allied  trees.  In  a  bed  of  shale,  at  Kettle  Point,  Lake 
Huron,  from  12  to  14  feet  thick,  not  only  are  the 
surfaces  of  the  beds  dotted  over  with  minute  round 
spore-cases,  but,  on  making  a  section  for  the  micro- 
scope, the  substance  of  each  layer  is  seen  to  be  filled 
with  them;  and  still  more  minute  bodies,  probably 
the  escaped  spores,  are  seen  to  fill  up  their  interstices. 
The  quantity  of  these  minute  bodies  is  so  great  that 
the  shale  is  combustible,  and  burns  with  much  flame. 
A  bed  of  this  nature  must  have  been  formed  in 


THE    DEVONIAN   AGE.  107 

shallow  and  still  water,  on  the  margin  of  an  extensive 
jungle  or  forest;  and  as  the  spore-cases  are  similar 
to  those  of  the  Lepidodendra  of  the  coal-measures, 
the  trees  were  probably  of  this  kind.  Year  after  year, 
as  the  spores  became  ripe,  they  were  wafted  away,  and 
fell  in  vast  quantities  into  the  water,  to  be  mixed  with 
the  fine  mud  there  accumulating.  When  we  come  to 
the  coal  period,  we  shall  see  that  such  beds  of  spore- 
cases  occur  there  also,  and  that  they  have  even  been 
supposed  to  be  mainly  instrumental  in  the  accumula- 
tion of  certain  beds  of  coal.  Their  importance  in  this 
respect  may  have  been  exaggerated,  but  the  fact  of 
their  occurrence  in  immense  quantities  in  certain  coals 
and  shales  is  indisputable. 

This  is  bat  a  slender  sketch  of  the  Devonian 
forests  j  but  we  shall  find  many  of  the  same  forms  of 
plants  in  the  carboniferous  period  which  succeeds. 
With  one  thought  we  may  close.  We  are  prone  to 
ask  for  reasons  and  uses  for  things,  but  sometimes 
we  cannot  be  satisfied.  Of  what  use  were  the  De- 
vonian forests  ?  They  did  not,  like  those  of  the  coal 
formation,  accumulate  rich  beds  of  coal  for  the  use 
of  man.  Except  possibly  a  few  insects,  we  know 
no  animals  that  subsisted  on  their  produce,  nor  was 
there  any  rational  being  to  admire  their  beauty. 
Their  use,  except  as  helping  us  in  these  last  days  to 
complete  the  order  of  the  vegetable  kingdom  as  it 
has  existed  in  geological  time,  is  a  mystery.  We  can 
but  fall  back  on  that  ascription  of  praise  to  Him  "  who 
liveth  for  ever  and  ever,"  on  the  part  of  the  heavenly 


108      THE  STOEY  OP  THE  EAETH  AND  MAN. 

elders  who  cast  down  their  crowns  before  the  thron* 
and  say,  "Thou  art  worthy,  0  Lord,  to  receive  th 
glory,  and  the  honour,  and  the  might ;  because  Tho 
didst  create  all  things,  and  by  reason  of  Thy  will  the 
are  and  were  created." 


CHAPTER   VI. 

THE   CARBONIFEROUS   AGE. 

THAT  age  of  the  world's  history  which,  from  its  rich* 
ness  in  accumulations  of  vegetable  matter  destined 
to  be  converted  into  coal,  has  been  named  the  Car- 
boniferous, is  in  relation  to  living  beings  the  most 
complete  and  noble  of  the  Palaeozoic  periods.  In  it 
those  varied  arrangements  of  land  and  water  which 
had  been  increasing  in  perfection  in  the  previous 
periods,  attained  to  their  highest  development.  In 
it  the  forms  of  animal  and  plant  life  that  had  been 
becoming  more  numerous  and  varied  from  the  Eozoic 
onward,  culminated.  The  Permian  which  succeeded 
was  but  the  decadence  of  the  Carboniferous,  prepara- 
tory to  the  introduction  of  a  new  order  of  things. 
Thus  the  Carboniferous  was  to  the  previous  periods 
what  the  Modern  is  to  the  preceding  Tertiary  and 
Mesozoic  ages — the  summation  and  completion  of 
them  all,  and  the  embodiment  of  their  highest  excel- 
lence. If  the  world's  history  had  closed  with  the 
Carboniferous,  a  naturalist,  knowing  nothing  further, 
would  have  been  obliged  to  admit  that  it  had  already 
fulfilled  all  the  promise  of  its  earlier  years.  It  is  im- 
portant to  remember  this,  since  we  shall  find  ourselves 
entering  on  an  entirely  new  scene  in  the  Mesozoic 


110      THE  STOEY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

period,  and  since  this  character  of  the  Carboniferous, 
as  well  as  iis  varied  conditions  and  products,  may 
excuse  us  for  dwelling  on  it  a  little  longer  than  on 
the  others ,  On  the  other  hand,  the  immense  economic 
importance  of  the  coal  formation,  and  the  interesting 
points  connected  with  it,  have  made  the  Carboniferous 
more  familiar  to  general  readers  than  most  other 
geological  periods,  so  that  we  may  select  points  less 
common  and  well-known  for  illustration.  Popular 
expositions  of  geology  are,  however,  generally  so  one- 
sided and  so  distorted  by  the  prevalent  straining  after 
effect,  that  the  true  aspect  of  this  age  is  perhaps  not 
much  better  known  than  that  of  others  less  frequently 
described. 

Let  us  first  consider  the  Carboniferous  geography 
of  the  northern  hemisphere ;  and  in  doing  so  we  may 
begin  with  a  fact  concerning  the  preceding  age.  One 
of  the  most  remarkable  features  of  the  Newer  De- 
vonian is  the  immense  quantity  of  red  rocks,  particu- 
larly red  sandstones,  contained  in  it.  Ked  sandstones, 
it  is  true,  occur  in  older  formations,  but  comparatively 
rarely ;  their  great  head- quarters,  both  in  Europe  and 
America,  in  so  far  as  the  Palaeozoic  is  concerned,  are 
in  the  Upper  Devonian.  Now  red  sandstone  is  an 
infallible  mark  of  rapid  deposition,  and  therefore  of 
active  physical  change.  If  we  examine  the  grains 
of  sand  in  a  red  sandstone,  we  shall  find  that  they 
are  stained  or  coated,  externally,  with  the  peroxide 
of  iron,  or  iron  rust ;  and  that  this  coating,  with  per- 
hap-s  a  portion  of  the  same  substance  in  the  inter- 


THE    CARBONIFEROUS   AGE.  Ill 

vening  cement,  is  the  cause  of  the  colour.  In  finer 
sandstones  and  red  clays  the  same  condition  exists, 
though  less  distinctly  perceptible.  Conrrequently,  if 
red  sands  and  clays  are  long  abraded  or  scoured  in 
water,  or  are  subjected  to  any  chemical  agent  capable 
of  dissolving  the  iron,  they  cease  to  be  red,  and  re- 
sume their  natural  grey  or  white  colour.  Now  in 
nature,  in  addition  to  mechanical  abrasion,  there  is  a 
chemical  cause  most  potent  in  bleaching  red  rocks, 
namely,  the  presence  of  vegetable  or  animal  matter 
in  a  state  of  decay.  Without  entering  into  chemical 
details,  we  may  content  ourselves  with  the  fact  that 
organic  matter  decaying  in  contact  with  peroxide  of 
iron  tends  to  take  oxygen  from  it,  and  then  to  dis- 
solve it  in  the  state  of  protoxide,  while  the  oxygen 
set  free  aids  the  decay.  Carrying  this  fact  with  us, 
we  may  next  affirm  that  iron  is  so  plentiful  in  the 
crust  of  the  earth  that  nearly  all  sands  and  clays 
when  first  produced  from  the  weathering  of  rocks 
are  stained  with  it,  and  that  when  this  weathering 
takes  place  in  the  air,  the  iron  is  always  in  the  state 
of  peroxide.  More  especially  does  this  apply  to  the 
greater  number  of  igneous  or  volcanic  rocks,  which 
nearly  always  weather  brown  or  red.  Now  premising 
that  the  original  condition  of  sediment  is  that  of 
being  reddened  with  iron,  and  that  it  may  lose  this 
by  abrasion,  or  by  the  action  of  organic  matter,  it 
follows  that  when  sand  has  been  produced  by  decay 
of  rocks  in  the  air,  and  when  it  is  rapidly  washed 
into  the  sea  and  deposited  there,  red  beds  will  result, 


112      THE  STORY  OP  THE  EAETH  AND  MAN. 

For  instance,  in  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  whose  rapid  tides 
cut  away  the  red  rocks  of  its  shores  and  deposit  their 
materials  quickly,  red  mud  and  sand  constitute  the 
modern  deposit.  On  the  other  hand,  when  the  red 
Band  and  mud  are  long  washed  about,  their  red  matter 
may  disappear;  and  when  the  deposition  is  slow  and 
accompanied  with  the  presence  of  organic  matter,  the 
red  colour  is  not  only  removed,  but  is  replaced  by  the 
dark  tints  due  to  carbon.  Thus,  in  the  Gulf  of  St. 
Lawrence,  where  red  rocks  similar  to  those  of  the  Bay 
of  Fundy  are  being  more  slowly  wasted,  and  deposited 
in  the  presence  of  sea-weeds  and  other  vegetable  sub- 
stances, the  resulting  sands  and  clays  are  white  and 
grey  or  blackened  in  colour.  An  intermediate  condi- 
tion is  sometimes  observed,  in  which  red  beds  are 
stained  with  grey  spots  and  lines,  where  sea- weeds 
or  land-plants  have  rested  on  them.  I  have  speci- 
mens of  Devonian  red  shale  with  the  forms  of  fern 
leaves,  the  substance  of  which  has  entirely  perished, 
traced  most  delicately  upon  them  in  greenish  marks. 

It  follows  from  these  facts  that  extensive  and  thick 
deposits  of  red  beds  evidence  sub-aerial  decay  of 
rocks,  followed  by  comparatively  rapid  deposition  in 
water,  and  that  such  red  rocks  will  usually  contain 
few  fossils,  not  only  because  of  their  rapid  deposition, 
but  because  the  few  organic  fragments  deposited  with 
them  will  probably  have  been  destroyed  by  the 
chemical  action  of  the  superabundant  oxide  of  iron, 
which,  so  to  speak,  "  iron-moulds "  them,  just  aa 
stains  of  iron  eat  holes  out  of  linen.  Now  when  Sit 


THE   CARBONIFEROUS   AGE.  113 

Roderick  Murchison  tells  us  of  10,000  feet  in  thick- 
aess  of  red  iron-stained  rocks  in  the  old  red  sand- 
stone of  England,  we  can  see  in  this  the  evidence  of 
rapid  aqueous  deposition,  going  on  for  a  very  long 
time,  and  baring  vast  areas  of  former  land  surface. 
Consequently  we  have  proof  of  changes  of  level  and 
immense  and  rapid  denudation — a  conclusion  further 
confirmed  by  the  apparent  unconformity  of  different 
members  of  the  series  to  each  other  in  some  parts  of 
the  British  Islands,  the  lower  beds  having  been  tilted 
up  before  the  newer  were  deposited.  Such  was  the 
state  of  affairs  very  generally  at  the  close  of  the 
Devonian,  and  it  appears  to  have  been  accompanied 
with  some  degree  of  subsidence  of  the  land,  succeeded 
by  re-elevation  at  the  beginning  of  the  Carboniferous, 
when  many  and  perhaps  large  islands  and  chains  of 
islands  were  raised  out  of  the  sea,  along  whose  mar- 
gins there  were  extensive  volcanic  eruptions,  evi- 
denced by  the  dykes  of  trap  traversing  the  Devonian, 
and  the  beds  of  old  lava  interstratified  in  the  lower 
part  of  the  Carboniferous,  where  also  the  occurrence 
of  thick  beds  of  conglomerate  or  pebble-rock  indicates 
the  tempestuous  action  of  the  sea. 

But  a  careful  study  of  the  Lower  Carboniferous 
beds,  where  their  margins  rest  upon  the  islands  of 
older  rocks,  shows  great  varieties  in  these  old  shores. 
In  some  places  there  were  shingly  beaches ;  in  others, 
extensive  sand-banks ;  in  others,  swampy  flats  clothed 
with  vegetation,  and  sometimes  bearing  peaty  beds, 

still  preserved  as  small  seams  of  coal.     The  bays  and 

6* 


114      THE  STORY  OP  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

creeks  swarmed  with,  fishes.  A  few  sluggish  reptiles 
crept  along  the  muddy  or  sandy  shores,  and  out  sea- 
ward were  great  banks  and  reefs  of  coral  and  shells 
in  the  clear  blue  sea.  The  whole  aspect  of  nature, 
taken  in  a  general  view,  in  the  Older  Carboniferous 
period,  must  have  much  resembled  that  at  present 
seen  among  the  islands  of  the  southern  hemisphere. 
And  the  plants  and  animals,  though  different,  were 
more  like  those  of  the  modern  South  Pacific  than  any 
others  now  living. 

As  the  age  wore  on,  the  continents  were  slowly 
lifted  out  of  the  water,  and  the  great  continental 
plateaus  were  changed  from  coral  seas  into  swampy 
flats  or  low  uplands,  studded  in  many  places  with 
shallow  lakes,  and  penetrated  with  numerous  creeks 
and  sluggish  streams.  In  the  eastern  continent  these 
land  surfaces  prevailed  extensively,  more  especially 
in  the  west ;  and  in  America  they  spread  both  east- 
ward and  westward  from  the  Appalachian  ridge,  until 
only  a  long  north  and  south  Mediterranean,  running 
parallel  to  the  Eocky  Mountains,  remained  of  the 
former  wide  internal  ocean.  On  this  new  and  low 
land,  comparable  with  the  "  Sylvas "  of  the  South 
American  continent,  flourished  the  wondrous  vegeta- 
tion of  the  Coal  period,  and  were  introduced  the  new 
land  animals,  whose  presence  distinguishes  the  close 
of  the  Palaeozoic. 

After  a  vast  lapse  of  time,  in  which  only  slow  and 
gradual  subsidence  occurred,  a  more  rapid  settlement 
of  the  continental  areas  brought  the  greater  part  of 


THE    CARBONIFEROUS   AGE.  115 

the  once  fertile  plains  of  the  coal  formation  again 
under  the  waters;  and  shifting  sand-banks  and 
muddy  tides  engulfed  and  buried  the  remains  of  the 
old  forests,  and  heaped  on  them  a  mass  of  sediment, 
which,  like  the  weights  of  a  botanical  press,  flattened 
and  compressed  the  vegetable  debris  preserved  in  the 
leaves  of  the  coal  formation  strata.  Then  came  on 
that  strange  and  terrible  Permian  period,  which,  like 
the  more  modern  boulder- formation,  marked  the  death 
of  one  age  and  the  birth  of  another. 

The  succession  just  sketched  is  the  normal  one; 
but  the  terms  in  which  it  has  been  described  show 
that  it  cannot  be  universal.  There  are  many  places 
in  which  the  whole  thickness  of  the  Carboniferous  is 
filled  with  fossils  of  the  land,  and  of  estuaries  and 
creeks.  There  are  places,  on  the  other  hand,  where 
the  deep  sea  appears  to  have  continued  during  the 
whole  period.  In  America  this  is  seen  on  the  grand- 
est scale  in  the  absence  of  the  marine  members 
along  the  western  slopes  of  the  Appalachians,  and  the 
almost  exclusive  prevalence  of  marine  beds  in  the  far 
west,  where  the  great  Carboniferous  Mediterranean  of 
America  spread  itself,  and  continued  uninterruptedly 
into  the  succeeding  Permian  period. 

In  our  survey  of  the  Carboniferous  age,  though 
there  are  peculiarities  in  the  life  of  its  older,  middle, 
and  newer  divisions,  we  may  take  the  great  coal 
measures  of  the  middle  portion  as  the  type  of  the 
land  life  of  the  period,  and  the  great  limestones  of 
the  lower  portion  as  that  of  the  marine  life;  and  as 


116       THE  STORY  OP  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

the  former  is  in  this  period  by  far  the  most  important, 
we  may  begin  with  it.  Before  doing  so,  however,  to 
prevent  misapprehension,  it  is  necessary  to  remind  the 
reader  that  the  Flora  of  the  Middle  Coal  Period  is  but 
one  of  a  succession  of  related  floras  that  reach  from 
the  Upper  Silurian  to  the  Permian.  The  meagre  flora 
of  club-mosses  and  their  allies  in  the  Upper  Silurian 
and  Lower  Devonian  was  succeeded  by  a  compara- 
tively rich  and  varied  assemblage  of  plants  in  the 
Middle  Devonian.  The  Upper  Devonian  was  a  period 
of  decadence,  and  in  the  Lower  Carboniferous  we  have 
another  feeble  beginning,  presenting  features  some- 
what different  from  those  of  the  Upper  Devonian. 
This  was  the  time  of  the  Culm  of  Germany,  the 
Iweedian  formation  of  the  North  of  England  and 
South  of  Scotland,  and  the  Lower  Coal  formation  of 
Nova  Scotia.  It  was  a  period  eminently  rich  in  Lepi- 
dodendra.  It  was  followed  by  the  magnificent  flora 
of  the  Middle  Coal  formation,  and  then  there  was  a 
time  of  decadence  in  the  Upper  Coal  formation  and 
only  a  slight  revival  in  the  Permian. 

In  the  present  condition  of  our  civilization,  coal  is 
the  most  important  product  which  the  bowels  of  the 
earth  afford  to  man.  And  though  there  are  pro- 
ductive beds  of  coal  in  most  of  the  later  geological 
formations,  down  to  the  peats  of  the  modern  period, 
which  are  only  unconsolidated  coals,  yet  the  coal  of 
the  Carboniferous  age  is  the  earliest  valuable  coal 
in  point  of  time,  and  by  far  the  most  important  in 
point  of  quantity.  Mineral  coal  may  be  defined  tc 


THE   CARBONIFEROUS   AGE.  117 

be  vegetable  matter  which  has  been  buried  in  the 
strata  of  the  earth's  crust,  and  there  subjected  to 
certain  chemical  and  mechanical  changes.  The  proof 
of  its  vegetable  origin  will  grow  upon  us  as  we  pro- 
ceed. The  chemical  changes  which  it  has  under- 
gone are  not  very  material.  Wood  or  bark,  taken  as 
an  example  of  ordinary  vegetable  matter,  consists  of 
carbon  or  charcoal,  with  the  gases  hydrogen  and 
oxygen.  Coal  has  merely  parted  with  a  portion  of 
these  ingredients  in  the  course  of  a  slow  and  imper- 
fect putrefaction,  so  that  it  comes  to  have  much  less 
oxygen  and  considerably  less  hydrogen  than  wood, 
and  it  has  been  blackened  by  the  disengagement  of 
a  quantity  of  free  carbon.  The  more  bituminous 
flaming  coals  have  a  larger  amount  of  residual  hydro- 
gen. In  the  anthracite  coals  the  process  of  carbonis- 
ation has  proceeded  further,  and  little  remains  but 
charcoal  in  a  dense  and  compact  form.  In  cannel 
coals,  and  in  certain  bituminous  shales,  on  the  con- 
trary, the  process  seems  to  have  taken  place  entirely 
under  water,  by  which  putrefaction  has  been  modified, 
so  that  a  larger  proportion  than  usual  of  hydrogen 
has  been  retained.  The  mechanical  change  which 
the  coal  has  experienced  consists  in  the  flattening 
and  hardening  effect  of  the  immense  pressure  of 
thousands  of  feet  of  superincumbent  rock,  which  has 
crashed  together  the  cell-walls  of  the  vegetable 
matter,  and  reduced  what  was  originally  a  pulpy 
mass  of  cellular  tissue  to  the  condition  of  a  hard 
laminated  rock.  To  understand  this,  perhaps  tha 


118      THE  STOEY  OP  THE  EAETH  AND  MAN. 

simplest  way  is  to  compare  under  the  microscope  a 
transverse  section  of  recent  pine-wood  with  a  similar 
section  of  a  pine  trunk  compressed  into  brown  coal 
or  jet.  In  the  one  the  tissue  appears  as  a  series  of 
meshes  with  thin  woody  walls  and  comparatively  wide 
cavities  for  the  transmission  of  the  sap.  In  the  other 
the  walls  of  the  cells  have  been  forced  into  direct 
contact,  and  in  some  cases  have  altogether  lost  their 
separate  forms,  and  have  been  consolidated  into  a 
perfectly  compact  structureless  mass. 

With  regard  to  its  mode  of  occurrence,  coal  is 
found  in  beds  ranging  in  vertical  thickness  from  less 
than  an  inch  to  more  than  thirty  feet,  and  of  wide 
horizontal  extent.  Many  such  beds  usually  occur  in 
the  thickness  of  the  coal  formation,  or  "coal  measures," 
as  the  miners  call  it,  separated  from  each  other  by 
beds  of  sandstone  and  compressed  clay  or  shale. 
Very  often  the  coal  occurs  in  groups  of  several  beds, 
somewhat  close  to  each  other  and  separated  from  other 
groups  by  "  barren  measures  "  of  considerable  thick- 
ness. In  examining  a  bed  of  coal,  where  it  is  exposed 
in  a  cutting  or  shore  cliff,  we  nearly  always  find  that 
the  bed  below  it,  or  the  "  underclay,"  as  it  is  termed 
by  miners,  is  a  sort  of  fossil  soil,  filled  with  roots  and 
rootlets.  On  this  rests  the  coal,  which,  when  we 
examine  it  closely,  is  found  to  consist  of  successive 
thin  layers  of  hard  coal  of  different  qualities  as  to 
lustre  and  purity,  and  with  intervening  laminae  of 
a  dusty  fibrous  substance,  like  charcoal,  called 
"mother  coal"  by  miners,  and  sometimes  mineral 


THE    CARBONIFEROUS    AGE.  119 

charcoal.  Thin  partings  of  dark  shale  also  occur, 
and  these  usually  present  marks  and  impressions  of 
the  stems  and  leaves  of  plants.  Above  the  coal  is 
its  "roof"  of  hardened  clay  or  sandstone,  and  this 
generally  holds  great  quantities  of  remains  of  plants, 
and  sometimes  large  stumps  of  trees  with  their  bark 
converted  into  coal,  and  the  hollow  once  occupied 
with  wood  filled  with  sandstone,  while  their  roots 
spread  over  the  surface  of  the  coal.  Such  fossil 
forests  of  erect  stumps  are  also  found  at  various 
levels  in  the  coal  measures,  resting  directly  on  under- 
clays  without  any  coals.  A  bed  of  coal  would  thus 
appear  to  be  a  fossil  bog  or  swamp. 

This  much  being  premised  about  the  general  nature 
of  the  sooty  blocks  which  fill  our  coal-scuttles,  we 
may  now  transport  ourselves  into  the  forests  and 
bogs  of  the  coal  formation,  and  make  acquaintance 
with  this  old  vegetation,  while  it  still  waved  its 
foliage  in  the  breeze  and  drank  in  the  sunshine  and 
showers.  We  are  in  the  midst  of  one  of  those  great 
low  plains  formed  by  the  elevation  of  the  former 
sea  bed.  The  sun  pours  down  its  fervent  rays  upon 
us,  and  the  atmosphere,  being  loaded  with  vapour, 
and  probably  more  rich  in  carbonic  acid  than  that 
of  the  present  world,  the  heat  is  as  it  were  accu- 
mulated and  kept  near  the  surface,  producing  a 
close  and  stifling  atmosphere  like  that  of  a  tropical 
swamp.  This  damp  and  oppressive  air  is,  however, 
most  favourable  to  the  growth  of  the  strange  and 
grotesque  trees  which  tower  over  our  heads,  and 


120  THE   STOEY   OP   THE   EAIITH   AND   MAK. 

to  the  millions  of  delicate  ferns  and  club-mosses,  not 
unlike  those  of  our  modern  woods,  which  carpet  the 
ground.  Around  us  for  hundreds  of  miles  spreads 
a  dense  and  monotonous  forest,  with  here  and  there 
open  spaces  occupied  by  ponds  and  sluggish  streams, 
whose  edges  are  bordered  with  immense  savannahs 
of  reed-like  plants,  springing  from  the  wet  and  boggy 
soil.  Everything  bespeaks  a  rank  exuberance  of 
vegetable  growth ;  and  if  we  were  to  dig  downward 
into  the  soil,  we  should  find  a  thick  bed  of  vegetable 
mould  evidencing  the  prevalence  of  such  conditions 
for  ages.  But  the  time  will  come  when  this  immense 
flat  will  meet  with  the  fate  which  in  modern  times 
befel  a  large  district  at  the  mouth  of  the  Indus. 
Quietly,  or  with  earthquake  shocks,  it  will  sink 
under  the  waters;  fishes  and  mollusks  will  swarm 
where  trees  grew,  beds  of  sand  and  mud  will  be 
deposited  by  the  water,  inclosing  and  preserving 
the  remains  of  the  vegetation,  and  in  some  places 
surrounding  and  imbedding  the  still  erect  trunks 
of  trees.  Many  feet  of  such  deposits  may  be  formed, 
and  our  forest  surface,  with  its  rich  bed  of  vegetable 
mould,  has  been  covered  up  and  is  in  process  of 
transformation  into  coal ;  while  in  course  of  time 
the  shallow  waters  being  filled  up  with  deposit,  or 
a  slight  re-elevation  occurring,  a  new  forest  exactly 
like  the  last  will  flourish  on  the  same  spot.  Such 
changes  would  be  far  beyond  the  compass  of  the 
life  even  of  a  Methuselah ;  but  had  we  lived  in  the 
Coal  period,  we  might  have  seen  all  stages  of  thesa 


THE    CAEBONIFEROUS   AGE.  121 

processes  contemporaneously  in  different  parts  of 
either  of  the  great  continents. 

But  let  us  consider  the  actual  forms  of  vegetation 
presented  to  us  in  the  Coal  period,,  as  we  can  restore 
them  from  the  fragments  preserved  to  us  in  the 
beds  of  sandstone  and  shale,  and  as  we  would  have 
seen  them  in  our  imaginary  excursion  through  the 
Carboniferous  forests.  To  do  this  we  must  first 
glance  slightly  at  the  great  subdivisions  of  modern 
plants,  which  we  may  arrange  in  such  a  way  as  to 
give  an  easy  means  for  comparison  of  the  aspects 
of  the  vegetable  kingdom  in  ancient  and  modern 
times.  In  doing  this  I  shall  avail  myself  of  an 
extract  from  a  previous  publication  of  my  own  on 
this  subject. 

"  The  modern  flora  of  the  earth  admits  of  a  grand 
twofold  division  into  the  Phcenogamous,  or  flowering 
and  seed-bearing  plants,  and  the  Cryptogamous,  or 
flowerless  and  spore-bearing  plants.  In  the  former 
series,  we  have,  first,  those  higher  plants  which  start 
in  life  with  two  seed-leaves,  and  have  stems  with 
distinct  bark,  wood,  and  pith — the  Exogens  ;  secondly, 
those  similar  plants  which  begin  life  with  one  seed' 
leaf  only,  and  have  no  distinction  of  bark,  wood, 
and  pith,  in  the  stem — the  Endogens ;  and,  thirdly, 
a  peculiar  group  starting  with  two  or  several  seed- 
leaves,  and  having  a  stem  with  bark,  wood,  and  pith, 
but  with  very  imperfect  flowers,  and  wood  of  much 
simpler  structure  than  either  of  the  others — the 
Gymnosperms.  To  the  first  of  these  groups  or  classes 


122      THE  STOEY  OP  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

belong  most  of  the  ordinary  trees  of  temperat6 
climates.  To  the  second  belong  the  palms  and 
allied  trees  found  in  tropical  climates.  To  tlie  third 
belong  the  pines  and  cycads.  In  the  second  or 
Cryptogamous  series  we  have  also  three  classes, — 
(1.)  The  Acrogens,  or  ferns  and  club-mosses,  with 
stems  having  true  vessels  marked  on  the  sides  with 
cross-bars — the  Scalariform  vessels.  (2.)  The  Ano- 
phytes,  or  mosses  and  their  allies,  with  stems  and 
leaves,  but  no  vessels.  (3.)  The  Thallophytes,  or 
lichens,  fungi,  sea-weeds,  etc.,  without  true  stems 
and  leaves. 

"  In  the  existing  climates  of  the  earth  we  find 
these  classes  of  plants  variously  distributed  as  to 
relative  numbers.  In  some,  pines  predominate.  In 
others,  palms  and  treo-ferns  form  a  considerable 
part  of  the  forest  vegetation.  In  others,  the  ordinary 
exogenous  trees  predominate,  almost  to  the  ex- 
clusion of  others.  In  some  Arctic  and  Alpine 
regions,  mosses  and  lichens  prevail.  In  the  Coal 
period  we  have  found  none  of  the  higher  Exogens, 
though  one  species  is  known  in  the  Devonian,  and 
only  a  few  obscure  indications  of  the  presence  of 
Endogens ;  but  Gymnosperms  abound,  and  are 
highly  characteristic.  On  the  other  hand,  we  have 
no  mosses  or  lichens,  and  very  few  algas,  but  a 
great  number  of  ferns  and  Lycopodiacese  or  club- 
mosses.  Thus  the  coal  formation  period  is  botanically 
a  meeting-place  of  the  lower  Phasnogams  and  the 
higher  Cryptogams,  and  presents  many  forms  which, 


THE    DARBONIFEROUS   AGE.  123 

when  imperfectly  known,  have  puzzled  botanists  in 
regard  to  their  position  in  one  or  other  series.  In 
the  present  world,  the  flora  most  akin  to  that  of 
the  Coal  period  is  that  of  moist  and  warm  islands 
in  the  southern  hemisphere.  It  is  not  properly  a 
tropical  flora,  nor  is  it  the  flora  of  a  cold  region, 
but  rather  indicative  of  a  moist  and  equable  climate. 
In  accordance  with  this  is.  the  fact  that  the  equable 
but  not  warm  climate  of  the  southern  hemisphere 
at  present  (which  is  owing  principally  to  its  small 
extent  of  land)  enables  sub -tropical  plants  to  extend 
into  high  latitudes.  In  the  Coal  period  this  uni- 
formity was  evidently  still  more  marked,  since  we 
find  similar  plants  extending  from  regions  within  the 
Arctic  circle  to  others  near  to  the  tropics.  Still  we 
must  bear  in  mind  that  we  may  often  be  mistaken 
in  reasoning  as  to  the  temperature  required  by 
extinct  species  of  plants  differing  from  those  now 
in  existence.  Further,  we  must  not  assume  that 
the  climatal  conditions  of  the  northern  hemisphere 
were  in  the  Coal  period  at  all  similar  to  those  which 
now  prevail.  As  Sir  Charles  Lyell  has  argued,  a 
less  amount  of  land  in  the  higher  latitudes  would 
greatly  modify  climates,  and  there  is  every  reason 
to  believe  that  in  the  Coal  period  there  was  less 
land  than  now.  It  has  been  shown  by  Tyndall  that 
a  very  small  additional  amount  of  carbonic  acid  in 
the  atmosphere  would,  by  obstructing  the  radiation 
of  heat  from  the  earth,  produce  almost  the  effect 
of  a  glass  loof  or  conservatory,  extending  over  tlm 


124      THE  STORY  OP  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

whole  world.  There  is  much  in  the  structure  of  the 
leaves  of  the  coal  plants,  as  well  as  in  the  vast  amount 
of  carbon  which  they  accumulated  in  the  form  of  coal, 
and  the  characteristics  of  the  animal  life  of  the  pe- 
riod, to  indicate,  on  independent  grounds,  that  the 
Carboniferous  atmosphere  differed  from  that  of  the 
present  world  in  this  way,  or  in  the  presence  of  more 
carbonic  acid — a  substance  now  existing  in  the  very 
minute  proportion  of  one- thousandth  of  the  whole 
by  weight,  a  quantity  adapted  to  the  present  require- 
ments of  vegetable  and  animal  life,  but  probably  not 
to  those  of  the  Coal  period. 

Returning  from  this  digression  to  the  forests  of 
the  Coal  period,  we  may  first  notice  that  which  is  the 
most  conspicuous  and  abundant  tree  in  the  swampy 
levels — the  Sigillaria  or  seal-tree,  so  called  from  the 
stamp-like  marks  left  by  the  fall  of  its  leaves — a  plant 
which  has  caused  much  discussion  as  to  its  affinities. 
Some  regard  it  as  a  gymnosperm,  others  as  a  crypto- 
gam. Most  probably  we  have  under  this  name  trees 
allied  in  part  to  both  groups,  and  which,  when  better 
known,  may  bridge  over  the  interval  between  them. 
These  trees  present  tall  pillar-like  trunks,  often  ribbed 
vertically  with  raised  bands,  and  marked  with  rows 
of  scars  left  by  the  fallen  leaves.  They  are  sometimes 
branchless,  or  divide  at  top  into  a  few  thick  limbs, 
covered  with  long  rigid  grass-like  foliage.  On  their 
branches  they  bear  long  slender  spikes  of  fruit,  and 
we  may  conjecture  that  quantities  of  nut-like  seeds 
scattered  over  the  ground  around  their  trunks  ara 


THE   CARBONIFEROUS   AGE.  125 

their  produce.  If  we  approach  one  of  these  treca 
closely,  more  especially  a  young  specimen  not  yet 
furrowed  by  age,  we  are  amazed  to  observe  the  accu- 
rate regularity  and  curious  forms  of  the  leaf-scars, 
and  the  regular  ribbing,  so  very  different  from  that  of 
our  ordinary  forest  trees.  If  we  cut  into  its  stem,  we 
are  still  further  astonished  at  its  singular  structure. 
Externally  it  has  a  firm  and  hard  rind.  Within  this 
is  a  great  thickness  of  soft  cellular  inner  bark,  tra- 
versed by  large  bundles  of  tough  fibres.  In  the  centre 
is  a  core  or  axis  of  woody  matter  very  slender  in  pro- 
portion to  the  thickness  of  the  trunk,  and  still  further 
reduced  in  strength  by  a  large  cellular  pith.  Thus  a 
great  stem  four  or  five  feet  in  diameter  is  little  else 
than  a  mass  of  cellular  tissue,  altogether  unfit  to  form  a 
mast  or  beam,  but  excellently  adapted,  when  flattened 
and  carbonised,  to  blaze  upon  our  winter  hearth  as 
a  flake  of  coal.  The  roots  of  these  trees  were  perhaps 
more  singular  than  their  stems ;  spreading  widely  in 
che  soft  soil  by  regular  bifurcation,  they  ran  out  in 
long  snake -like  cords,  studded  all  over  with  thick 
cylindrical  rootlets,  which  spread  from  them  in  every 
direction.  They  resembled  in  form,  and  probably  in 
function,  those  cable-like  root-stocks  of  the  pond-lilies 
which  run  through  the  slime  of  lakes,  but  the  struc- 
ture of  the  rootlets  was  precisely  that  of  those  of  some 
modern  Cycads.  It  was  long  before  these  singular 
roots  were  known  to  belong  to  a  tree.  They  were 
supposed  to  be  the  branches  of  some  creeping  aquatic 
plant,  and  botanists  objected  to  the  idea  of  their  being 


Fig.   13.  —  GBOT7P  OF  CABBONIFEBOUS  PLANTS,    BESTOBED   FBOM  ACTUAL  SPECIMENS. 

(a)  CALAMITES  (type  of  C.  Suckovii).    (b)  LEPIDOFLOIOS,  OB  TJLODENDBOIT.    (c) 
SIGILLABIA  (type  of  S.  reniformis).     (d)  (type  of  S.  elegans). 


. 

(type  of  L.  corrugatum).    (f)  MEGAPHTTON  (type  of  M.  magnificum).    (g)  Co*- 
DAITES,  OR  PTCHNOPHTLLUM  (type  of  C.  borasstfblia). 


THE    CARBONIFEROUS    AGfi.  127 

roots ;  but  at  length  their  connection  with  Sigillaria 
was  observed  simultaneously  by  Mr.  Binney,  in  Lan« 
cashire,  and  by  Mr.  Kichard  Brown,  in  Cape  Breton, 
and  it  has  been  confirmed  by  many  subsequently  ob- 
served facts.  This  connection,  when  once  established, 
further  explained  the  reason  of  the  almost  universal 
occurrence  of  Stigmaria,  as  these  roots  were  called, 
under  the  coal  beds;  while  trunks  of  the  same  plants 
were  the  most  abundant  fossils  of  their  partings  and 
roofs.  The  growth  of  successive  generations  of  Sigil- 
larise  was,  in  fact,  found  to  be  the  principal  cause 
of  the  accumulation  of  a  bed  of  coal.  Two  species 
form  the  central  figures  in  our  illustration. 

Along  with  the  trees  last  mentioned,  we  observe 
others  of  a  more  graceful  and  branching  form,  the 
successors  of  those  Lepidodendra  already  noticed  in 
the  Devonian,  and  which  still  abound  in  the  Carboni- 
ferous, and  attain  to  larger  dimensions  than  their 
older  relations,  though  they  are  certainly  more  abund- 
ant and  characteristic  in  the  lower  portions  of  the 
carboniferous.  Eelatives,  as  already  stated,  of  our 
modern  club-mosses,  now  represented  only  by  com- 
paratively insignificant  species,  they  constitute  the 
culmination  of  that  type,  which  thus  had  attained 
its  acme  very  long  ago,  though  it  still  continues  to 
exist  under  depauperated  forms.  They  all  branched 
by  bifurcation,  sometimes  into  the  most  graceful  and 
delicate  sprays.  They  had  narrow  slender  leaves,  placed 
in  close  spirals  on  the  branches.  They  bore  their 
spores  in  scaly  cones.  Their  roots  were  similar  to 


128       THE  STOET  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

Stigmaria  in  general  appearance,  though  differing  in 
details.  In  the  coal  period  there  were  several  generic 
forms  of  these  plants,  all  attaining  to  the  dimensions 
of  trees.  Like  the  Sigillariae,  they  contributed  to 
the  materials  of  the  coal;  and  one  mode  of  this  has 
recently  attracted  some  attention.  It  is  the  accumu- 
lation of  their  spores  and  spore-cases  already  referred 
to  in  speaking  of  the  Devonian,  and  which  was  in  the 
Carboniferous  so  considerable  as  to  constitute  an  im- 
portant feature  locally  in  some  beds  of  coal.  A  similar 
modern  accumulation  of  spore-cases  of  tree-ferns 
occurs  in  Tasmania ;  but  both  in  the  Modern  and  the 
Carboniferous,  such  beds  are  exceptional;  though 
wherever  spore-cases  exist  as  a  considerable  consti- 
tuent of  coal,  from  their  composition  they  give  to  it 
a  highly  bituminous  character,  an  effect,  however, 
which  is  equally  produced  by  the  hard  scales  support- 
ing the  spores,  and  by  the  outer  epidermal  tissues 
of  plants  when  these  predominate  in  the  coal,  more 
especially  by  the  thick  corky  outer  bark  of  Sigillaria. 
In  short,  the  corky  substance  of  bark  and  similar 
vegetable  tissues,  from  its  highly  carbonaceous  cha- 
racter, its  indestructibility,  and  its  difficult  permea- 
bility by  water  carrying  mineral  matter  in  solution, 
is  the  best  of  all  materials  for  the  production  of  coal ; 
and  the  microscope  shows  that  of  this  the  principal 
part  of  the  coal  is  actually  composed. 

In  the  wide,  open  forest  glades,  tree-ferns  almost 
precisely  similar  to  those  of  the  modern  tropics  reared 
their  leafy  crowns.  But  among  them  was  one  peculiar 


THE   CARBONIFEROUS   AGE.  129 

type,  in  which .  the  fronds  were  borne  in  pairs  on 
opposite  sides  of  the  stem,  leaving  when  they  fell  two 
rows  of  large  horseshoe-shaped  scars  marking  the  sides 
of  the  trunk.  Botanists,  who  have  been  puzzled 
with  these  plants  almost  as  much  as  with  the  Stig- 
maria,  have  supposed  these  scars  to  be  marks  of 
branches,  of  cones,  and  even  of  aerial  roots;  but 
specimens  in  my  collection  prove  conclusively  that 
the  stem  of  this  genus  was  a  great  caudex  made  up  of 
the  bases  of  two  rows  of  huge  leaves  cemented  toge- 
ther probably  by  intervening  cellular  tissue.  As  in 
the  Devonian  and  in  modern  times,  the  stems  of  the 
tree-ferns  of  the  Carboniferous  strengthened  them- 
selves by  immense  bundles  of  cord-like  aerial  roots, 
which  look  like  enormous  fossil  brooms,  and  are  known 
under  the  name  Psaronius. 

We  have  only  time  to  glance  at  the  vast  brakes  of 
tall  Calamites  which  fringe  the  Sigillaria  woods,  and 
stretch  far  seaward  over  tidal  flats.  They  were  allied 
to  modern  Mares'  Tails  or  Equisetums,  but  were  of 
gigantic  size,  and  much  more  woody  structure  of  stem. 
The  Calamites  grew  on  wet  mud  and  sand-flats,  and 
also  in  swamps ;  and  they  appear  to  have  been  espe- 
cially adapted  to  take  root  in  and.  clothe  and  mat 
together  soft  sludgy  material  recently  deposited  or 
in  process  of  deposition.  When  the  seed  or  spore 
of  a  Calamite  had  taken  root,  it  probably  produced 
a  little  low  whorl  of  leaves  surrounding  one  small 
joint,  from  which  another  and  another,  widening  in 
size,  arose,  producing  a  cylindrical  stem,  tapering  to 

7 


130      THE  STORY  OP  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

a  point  below.  To  strengthen  the  unstable  base,  the 
lower  joints,  especially  if  the  mud  had  been  accumu- 
lating around  the  plant,  shot  out  long  roots  instead  of 
leaves,  while  secondary  stems  grew  out  of  the  sides 
at  the  surface  of  the  soil,  and  in  time  there  was  a  stool 
of  Calamites,  with  tufts  of  long  roots  stretching  down- 
wards, like  an  immense  brush,  into  the  mud.  When 
Calamites  thus  grew  on  inundated  flats,  they  would, 
by  causing  the  water  to  stagnate,  promote  the  eleva- 
tion of  the  surface  by  new  deposits,  so  that  their 
stems  gradually  became  buried ;  but  this  only  favoured 
their  growth,  for  they  continually  pushed  out  new 
stems,  while  the  old  buried  ones  shot  out  bundles 
of  roots  instead  of  regular  whorls  of  leaves. 

The  Calamites,  growing  in  vast  fields  along  the 
margins  of  the  Sigillaria  forests,  must  have  greatly 
protected  these  from  the  effects  of  inundations,  and 
by  collecting  the  mud  brought  down  by  streams  in 
times  of  flood,  must  have  done  much  to  prevent  the 
intrusion  of  earthy  deposits  among  the  vegetable 
matter.  Their  chief  office,  therefore,  as  coal-pro- 
ducers,  seems  to  have  been  to  form  for  the  Sigillaria 
forests  those  reedy  fringes  which,  when  inundations 
took  place,  would  exclude  mud,  and  prevent  that 
mixture  of  earthy  matter  in  the  coal  which  would  have 
rendered  it  too  impure  for  use.  Quantities  of  frag- 
ments of  their  stems  can,  however,  be  detected  by  the 
microscope  in  most  coals. 

The  modern  Mares'  Tails  have  thin- walled  hollow 
stems,  and  some  of  the  gigantic  calamites  of  the  coal 


THE    CARBONIFEROUS   AGE.  131 

resembled  them  in  this.  But  others,  to  which  the 
name  Calamodendron,  or  Keed-tree,  has  been  given, 
had  stems  with  thick  woody  walls  of  a  remarkable 
structure,  which,  while  similar  in  plan  to  that  of  the 
Mares'  Tails,  was  much  more  perfect  in  its  develop- 
ment. Professor  Williamson  has  shown  that  there 
were  forms  intervening  between  these  extremes ;  and 
thus  in  the  calamites  and  calamodendrons  we  have 
another  example  of  the  exaltation  in  ancient  times 
of  a  type  now  of  humble  structure  ;  or,  in  other  words, 
of  a  comprehensive  type,  low  in  the  modern  world,  but 
in  older  periods  taking  to  itself  by  anticipation  the 
properties  afterward  confined  to  higher  forms.  The 
gigantic  club-mosses  of  the  Coal  period  constitute  a 
similar  example,  and  it  is  very  curious  that  both  of 
these  types  have  been  degraded  in  the  modern  world, 
though  retaining  precisely  their  general  aspect,  while 
the  tree-ferns  contemporary  with  them  in  the  Palaeo- 
zoic still  survive  in  all  their  original  grandeur. 

Barely  in  the  swampy  flats,  perhaps  more  frequently 
in  the  uplands,  grew  great  pines  of  several  kinds  ; 
trees  capable  of  doing  as  good  service  for  planks  and 
beams  as  many  of  their  modern  successors,  but  which 
lived  before  their  time,  and  do  not  appear  even  to 
have  aided  much  in  the  formation  of  coal.  These 
pines  of  the  Coal-period  seem  to  have  closely  resem- 
bled some  species  still  living  in  the  southern  hemi- 
sphere ;  and,  like  the  ferns,  they  present  to  us  a  vege- 
table type  which  has  endured  through  vast  periods 
of  time  almost  unchanged.  Indeed,  in  the  Middle 


132      THE  STORY  OP  THE  EAETH  AND  MAN. 

Devonian  we  have  pines  almost  as  closely  resembling 
those  of  the  Modern  world  as  do  those  of  the  Coal 
period.  It  is  in  accordance  with  this  long  duration  of 
the  ferns  and  pines,  that  they  are  plants  now  of  world- 
wide distribution — suited  to  all  climates  and  stations. 
Capacity  to  exist  under  varied  conditions  is  near  akin 
to  capacity  to  survive  cosmical  changes.  A  botanist  in 
the  strange  and  monstrous  woods  which  we  have  tried 
to  describe,  would  probably  have  found  many  curious 
things  among  the  smaller  herbaceous  plants,  and 
might  have  gathered  several  precursors  of  the  modern 
Exogens  and  Endogens  which  have  not  been  preserved 
to  us  as  fossils,  or  are  known  only  as  obscure  frag- 
ments. But  incomplete  though  our  picture  neces- 
sarily is,  and  obscured  by  the  dust  of  time,  it  may 
serve  in  some  degree  to  render  green  to  our  eyes 
those  truly  primeval  forests  which  treasured  up  for  our 
long  winter  nights  the  Palaeozoic  sunshine,  and  estab- 
lished for  us  those  storehouses  of  heat-giving  material 
which  work  our  engines  and  propel  our  ships  and 
carriages.  Truly  they  lived  not  in  vain,  both  as  real- 
izing for  us  a  type  of  vegetation  which  otherwise  we 
could  not  have  imagined,  and  as  preparing  the  most 
important  of  all  the  substrata  of  our  modern  arts  and 
manufactures.  In  this  last  regard  even  the  vegetable 
waste  of  the  old  coal  swamps  was  most  precious  to  us, 
as  the  means  of  producing  the  clay  iron  ores  of  the 
coal  measures.  I  may  close  this  notice  of  the  Carbo- 
niferous forests  with  a  suggestive  extract  from  a  paper 
by  Professor  Huxley  in  the  Contemporary  Review  : — 


THE   CARBONIFEKOUS   AGE.  133 

"  Nature  is  never  in  a  hurry,  and  seems  to  have 
had  always  before  her  eyes  the  adage,  f  Keep  a  thing 
long  enough,  and  you  will  find  a  use  for  it/  She  has 
kept  her  beds  of  coal  for  millions  of  years  without 
being  able  to  find  much  use  for  them ;  she  has  sent 
them  down  beneath  the  sea,  and  the  sea-beasts  could 
make  nothing  of  them  j  she  has  raised  them  up  into 
dry  land  and  laid  the  black  veins  bare,  and  still  for 
ages  and  ages  there  was  no  living  thing  on  the  face 
of  the  earth  that  could  see  any  sort  of  value  in  them ; 
and  it  was  only  the  other  day,  so  to  speak,  that  she 
turned  a  new  creature  oat  of  her  workshop,  who  by 
degrees  acquired  sufficient  wits  to  make  a  fire,  and 
then  to  discover  that  the  black  rock  would  burn. 

"  I  suppose  that  nineteen  hundred  years  ago,  when 
Julius  Caesar  was  good  enough  to  deal  with  Britain 
as  we  have  dealt  with  New  Zealand,  the  primeval 
Briton,  blue  with  cold  and  woad,  may  have  known 
that  the  strange  black  stone,  of  which  he  found  lumps 
here  and  there  in  his  wanderings,  would  burn,  and 
so  help  to  warm  his  body  and  cook  his  food.  Saxon, 
Dane,  and  Norman  swarmed  into  the  land.  The 
English  people  grew  into  a  powerful  nation,  and 
Nature  still  waited  for  a  return  for  the  capital  she  had 
invested  in  the  ancient  club-mosses.  The  eighteenth 
century  arrived,  and  with  it  James  Watt.  The  brain 
of  that  man  was  the  spore  out  of  which  was  developed 
the  steam-engine,  and  all  the  prodigious  trees  and 
branches  of  modern  industry  which  have  grown  out 
of  this.  But  coal  is  as  much  an  essential  condition  of 


134      THE  STORY  OP  THE  EAETH  AND  MAN. 

this  growth  and  development  as  carbonic  acid  is  for 
that  of  a  club-moss.  Wanting  the  coal,  we  could  not 
have  smelted  the  iron  needed  to  make  our  engines, 
nor  have  worked  our  engines  when  we  had  got  them. 
But  take  away  the  engines,  and  the  great  towns  of 
Yorkshire  and  Lancashire  vanish  like  a  dream.  Manu- 
factures give  place  to  agriculture  and  pasture,  and  not 
ten  men  could  live  where  now  ten  thousand  are  amply 
supported. 

"Thus  all  this  abundant  wealth  of  money  and  of 
vivid  life  is  Nature's  investment  in  club -mosses  and 
the  like  so  long  ago.  But  what  becomes  of  the  coal 
which  is  burnt  in  yielding  the  interest  ?  Heat  comes 
out  of  it,  light  comes  out  of  it,  and  if  we  could  gather 
together  all  that  goes  up  the  chimney  and  all  that 
remains  in  the  grate  of  a  thoroughly-burnt  coal  fire, 
we  should  find  ourselves  in  possession  of  a  quantity 
of  carbonic  acid,  water,  ammonia,  and  mineral 
matters,  exactly  equal  in  weight  to  the  coal.  But 
these  are  the  very  matters  with  which  Nature  supplied 
the  club-moss  which  made  the  coal.  She  is  paid  back 
principal  and  interest  at  the  same  time;  and  she 
straightway  invests  the  carbonic  acid,  the  water,  and 
the  ammonia  in  new  forms  of  life,  feeding  with  them 
the  plants  that  now  live.  Thrifty  Nature  !  surely  no 
prodigal,  but  most  notable  of  housekeepers  !" 

All  this  is  true  and  admirably  put.  Its  one  weak 
point  is  the  poetical  personification  of  Nature  as  an 
efficient  planner  of  the  whole.  Such  an  imaginary 
goddess  is  a  mere  superstition,  unknown  alike  to 


THE    CAEBONIFEKOUS   AGE.  135 

science  and  theology.  Surely  it  is  more  rational  to 
hold  that  the  mind  which  can  utilize  the  coal  and 
understand  the  manner  of  its  formation,  is  itself  made 
in  the  image  and  likeness  of  the  Supreme  Creative 
Spirit,  in  whom  we  live  and  move  and  have  our  being, 
who  knows  the  end  from  the  beginning,  whose  power 
is  the  origin  of  natural  forces,  whose  wisdom  is  the 
source  of  laws  and  correlations  of  laws,  and  whose 
great  plan  is  apparent  alike  in  the  order  of  nature 
of  the  Palaeozoic  world  and  of  the  modern  world,  as 
well  as  in  the  relation  of  these  to  each  other. 

In  the  Carboniferous,  as  in  the  Devonian  age, 
insects  existed,  and  in  greater  numbers.  The  winged 
insects  of  the  period,  so  far  as  known,  belong  to  three 
of  the  nine  or  ten  orders  into  which  modern  insects 
are  usually  divided.  Conspicuous  among  them  are 
representatives  of  our  well-known  domestic  pests  the 
cockroaches,  which  thus  belong  geologically  to  a  very 
old  family.  The  Carboniferous  roaches  had  not  the 
advantage  of  haunting  our  larders,  but  they  had 
abundance  of  vegetable  food  in  the  rank  forests  of 
their  time,  and  no  doubt  lived  much  as  the  numerous 
wild  out-of-door  species  of  this  family  now  do.  It  is, 
however,  a  curious  fact  that  a  group  of  insects  created 
so  long  ago,  should  prove  themselves  capable  of  the 
kind  of  domestication  to  which  these  creatures  attain 
in  our  modern  days ;  and  that,  had  we  lived  even  so  far 
back  as  the  coal  period,  we  might  have  been  liable  to 
the  attacks  of  this  particular  kind  of  pest.  Another 
group,  represented  by  many  species  in  the  coal 


136  THE    ST011Y   OF   THE   EARTH   AND   MAN. 

forests,  was  that  of  the  May-flies  and  shad-flies,  or 
ephemeras,  which  spend  their  earlier  days  under 
water,  feeding  on  vegetable  matter,  and  affording  food 
to  many  fresh-water  fishes — a  use  which  they  no 
doubt  served  in  the  coal  period  also.  Some  of  them 
were  giants  in  their  way,  being  probably  seven  inches 
in  expanse  of  wing,  and  their  larvae  must  have  been 
choice  morsels  to  the  ganoid  fishes,  and  would  have 
afforded  abundant  bait  had  there  been  anglers  in 
those  days.  Another  group  of  insects  was  that  of  the 
weevils,  a  family  of  beetles,  whose  grubs  must  have 
found  plenty  of  nuts  and  fruits  to  devour,  without 
attracting  the  wrathful  attentions  of  any  gardener  OP 
orchardist. 

A  curious  and  exceptional  little  group  of  creatures 
in  the  present  world  is  that  of  the  galley-worms  or 
millipedes;  wingless,  many -jointed,  and  many-footed 
crawlers,  resembling  worms,  but  more  allied  to 
insects.  These  animals  seem  to  have  swarmed  in  the 
coal  forests,  and  perhaps  attained  their  maximum 
numbers  and  importance  in  this  period,  though  they 
still  remain,  a  relic  of  an  ancient  comprehensive  type. 
I  have  myself  found  specimens  referred  by  Mr. 
Scudder,  a  most  competent  entomologist,  to  two 
genera  and  five  species,  in  a  few  decayed  fossil  stumps 
in  Nova  Scotia,  and  several  others  have  been  dis- 
covered in  other  parts  of  the  world.  It  is  not 
wonderful  that  animals  like  these,  feeding  on  decayed 
vegetable  matter,  should  have  flourished  in  the 
luxuriant  Sigillaria  swamps.  A  few  species  of  scor- 


THE    CAEBONIFEEOUS    AGE.  137 

pions  and  spiders,  very  like  those  of  the  modern 
world,  have  been  found  in  the  coal  measures,  both  in 
jEurope  and  America ;  so  that  while  we  know  of  no 
enemy  of  the  Devonian  insects  except  the  fishes,  we 
know  in  addition  to  these  in  the  Carboniferous  the 
spiders  and  their  allies,  and  the  smaller  reptiles  or 
batrachians  to  be  noticed  in  the  sequel.  With  refer- 
ence to  the  latter,  it  is  a  curious  fact  that  one  of  tho 
first  fragments  of  a  winged  insect  found  in  the  coal- 
fields of  America  was  a  part  of  a  head  and  some  other 
remains  contained  in  the  coprolites  or  excrementitious 
matter  of  one  of  the  smaller  fossil  reptiles.  It  is 
perhaps  equally  interesting  that  this  head  shows  one 
of  the  compound  facetted  eyes  as  perfectly  developed 
as  those  of  any  modern  Neuropter,  a  group  of  insects 
remarkable  even  in  the  present  world  for  their  large 
and  complex  organs  of  vision.  We  may  pause  here  -to 
note  that,  just  as  in  the  Primordial  we  already  have 
the  Trilobites  presenting  all  the  modifications  of  which 
the  type  is  susceptible,  so  in  the  Carboniferous  we 
have  in  the  case  of  the  terrestrial  articulates  a  similar 
fact — highly  specialised  forms  like  the  beetles,  the 
spiders,  and  the  scorpions,  already  existing  along 
with  comprehensive  forms  like  the  millipedes.  Let 
us  formulate  the  law  of  creation  which  the  Primordial 
trilobites,  the  Devonian  fishes,  and  the  Carboniferous 
club-mosses  and  insects  have  taught  us:  it  is,  that 
every  new  type  rapidly  attains  its  maximum  of  de- 
velopment in  magnitude  and  variety  of  forms,  and  then 
remains  stationary,  or  even  retrogrades,  in  subsequent 

7* 


138      THE  STORY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

ages.     We  may  connect  this  with   other  laws  in   the 
sequel. 

In  the  coal  measures  we  also  meet,  for  the  first 
time  in  our  ascending  progress,  the  land  snails  so 
familiar  now  in  every  part  of  the  world,  and  which 
are  represented  by  two  little  species  found  in  the  coal 
formation  of  Nova  Scotia.  The  figures  of  these  must 
speak  for  themselves  ;  but  the  fact  of  their  occurrence 
here  and  the  mode  of  their  preservation  require  some 
detailed  mention.  The  great  province  of  the  Mollusks 
we  have  carried  with  us  since  we  met  with  the  Lingulae 
in  the  Primordial,  but  all  its  members  have  been 
aquatic,  and  probably  marine.  For  the  first  time,  in 
the  Carboniferous  period,  snails  emerge  from  the 
waters,  and  walk  upon  the  ground  and  breathe  air; 
for,  like  the  modern  land  snails,  these  creatures  no 
doubt  had  air- sacks  instead  of  gills.  They  come 
suddenly  upon  us — two  species  at  once,  and  these 
representing  two  distinct  forms  of  the  snail  tribe,  the 
elongated  and  the  rounded.  They  were  very  numer- 
ous. In  the  beds  where  they  occur,  probably 
thousands  of  specimens,  more  or  less  perfect,  could 
be  collected.  Were  they  the  first-born  of  land  snails  ? 
It  would  be  rash  to  affirm  this,  more  especially  since 
in  all  the  coal-fields  of  the  world  no  specimens  have 
been  found  except  at  one  locality  in  Nova  Scotia  ;*  and 
in  all  the  succeeding  beds  we  meet  with  no  more  till 
we  have  reached  a  comparatively  modern  time.  Yet 

*  Bradley  has  recently  announced  the  discovery  of  other 
species  in  the  coal-field  of  Illinois 


THE    CARBONIFEROUS    AGE. 


139 


it  is  very  unlikely  that  these  creatures  were  in  the 
coal  period  limited  to  one  country,  and  that,  after 
that  period,  they  dropped  out  of  existence  for  long 
ages,  and  then  reappeared.  Still  it  may  have  been  so. 

THE  TWO  OLDEST  LAND  SNAILS. 


Fig.  14. — Pupa  Vetusta,  Dawson. 
(a)  Natural  size,    (b)  Enlarged,    (c)  Apex,  enlarged,    (d)  Sculpture,  magnified. 


Fig.  15.— Conulus  Prisons,  Carpenter. 
(a)  Specimen  enlarged,    (b)  Sculpture,  magnified. 

There   are   cases   of  geographical  limitation    quite  as 
curious  now.     Here  again  another  peculiarity  meets 


140       THE  STOEY  OP  THE  EAETH  AND  MAN. 

us.  If  these  are  really  the  oldest  land  snails,  it  is 
curious  that  they  are  so  small, — so  much  inferior  to 
many  of  their  modern  successors  even  in  the  same 
latitudes.  The  climate  of  the  coal  period  must  have 
suited  them,  and  there  was  plenty  of  vegetable  food, 
though  perhaps  not  the  richest  or  most  tender.  There 
is  no  excuse  for  them  in  their  outward  circumstances. 
Why,  then,  unlike  so  many  other  creatures,  do  they 
enter  on  existence  in  this  poor  and  sneaking  way. 
We  must  here  for  their  benefit  modify  in  two  ways 
the  statement  broadly  made  in  a  previous  chapter, 
that  new  types  come  in  under  forms  of  great  magni- 
tude. First,  we  often  have,  in  advance  of  the  main  in- 
road of  a  new  horde  of  animals,  a  few  insignificant 
stragglers  as  a  sort  of  prelude  to  the  rest — precursors 
intimating  beforehand  what  is  to  follow.  We  shall 
find  this  to  be  the  case  with  the  little  reptiles  of  the 
coal,  and  the  little  mammals  of  the  Trias,  preceding 
the  greater  forms  which  subsequently  set  in.  Se- 
condly, this  seems  to  be  more  applicable  in  the  case  of 
land  animals  than  in  the  case  of  those  of  the  waters. 
To  the  waters  was  the  fiat  to  bring  forth  living  things 
issued.  They  have  always  kept  to  themselves  the 
most  gigantic  forms  of  life ;  and  it  seems  as  if  new 
forms  of  life  entering  on  the  land  had  to  begin  in  a 
small  way  and  took  more  time  to  culminate. 

The  circumstances  in  which  the  first  specimens  of 
Carboniferous  snails  and  gally-worms  were  found  are 
BO  peculiar  and  so  characteristic  of  the  coal  formation, 
that  I  must  pause  here  to  notice  them,  and  to  make  of 


THE    CARBONIFEROUS   AGE.  141 

[hem  an  introduction  to  the  next  group  of  creatures 
we  have  to  consider.  In  the  coal  formation  in  all 
parts  of  the  world  it  is  not  unusual,  as  stated  already 
in  a  previous  page,  to  find  erect  trees  or  stumps 
of  trees,  usually  Sigillariae,  standing  where  they  grew ; 
and  where  the  beds  are  exposed  in  coast  cliffs,  or  road 
cuttings,  or  mines,  these  fossil  trees  can  be  extracted 
from  the  matrix  and  examined.  They  usually  consist 
of  an  outer  cylinder  of  coal  representing  the  outer 
bark,  while  the  space  within,  once  occupied  by  the 
inner  bark  and  wood,  is  filled  with  sandstone,  some- 
times roughly  arranged  in  layers,  the  lowest  of  which 
is  usually  mixed  with  coaly  matter  or  mineral  charcoal 
derived  from  the  fallen  remains  of  the  decayed  wood, 
a  kind  of  deposit  which  affords  to  the  fossil  botanist 
one  of  the  best  modes  of  investigating  the  tissues  of 
these  trees.  These  fossil  stumps  are  not  uncommon  in 
the  roofs  of  the  coal-seams.  In  some  places  they  are 
known  to  the  miners  as  (t  coal  pipes,"  and  are  dreaded 
by  them  in  consequence  of  the  accidents  which  occur 
from  their  suddenly  falling  after  the  coal  which  sup- 
ported them  has  been  removed.  An  old  friend  and 
helper  of  mine  in  Carboniferous  explorations  had  a 
lively  remembrance  of  the  fact  that  one  of  these  old 
trees,  falling  into  the  mine  in  which  he  was  working, 
had  crushed  his  leg  and  given  him  a  limp  for  life ;  and 
if  he  had  been  a  few  inches  nearer  to  it  would  have 
broken  his  back. 

The  manner  in  which  such  trees  become  fossilized 
may  be   explained  as  follows : — Imagine  a  forest   of 


142       THE  STORY  OP  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

Sigillariaa  growing  on  a  low  flat.  This  becomes 
submerged  by  subsidence  or  inundation,  the  soil  is 
buried  under  several  feet  of  sand  or  mud,  and  the 
trees  killed  by  this  agency  stand  up  as  bare  and 
lifeless  trunks.  The  waters  subside,  and  the  trees 
rapidly  decay,  the  larvae  of  wood-boring  insects  per- 
haps aiding  in  the  process,  as  they  now  do  in  the 
American  woods.  The  dense  coaly  outer  bark  alone 
resists  decomposition,  and  stands  as  a  hollow  cylinder 
until  prostrated  by  the  wind  or  by  the  waters  of 
another  inundation,  while  perhaps  a  second  forest  or 
jungle  has  sprung  up  on  the  new  surface.  When  it 
falls,  the  part  buried  in  the  soil  becomes  an  open  hole, 
with  a  heap  of  shreds  of  wood  and  bark  in  the  bottom. 
Such  a  place  becomes  a  fit  retreat  for  gally-worms 
and  land-snails;  and  reptiles  pursuing  such  animals, 
or  pursued  by  their  own  enemies,  or  heedlessly 
scrambling  among  the  fallen  trunks,  may  easily  fall 
into  such  holes  and  remain  as  prisoners.  I  remember 
to  have  observed,  when  a  boy,  a  row  of  post-holes 
dug  across  a  pasture-field  and  left  open  for  a  few  days, 
and  that  in  almost  every  hole  one  or  two  toads  were 
prisoners.  This  was  the  fate  which  must  have  often 
befallen  the  smaller  reptiles  of  the  coal  forests  in  the 
natural  post-holes  left  by  the  decay  of  the  Sigillariae. 
Yet  it  may  be  readily  understood  that  the  combination 
of  circumstances  which  would  effect  this  result  must 
have  been  rare,  and  consequently  this  curious  fact  has 
been  as  yet  observed  only  in  the  coal  formation  of 
Nova  Scotia;  and  in  it  only  in  one  locality,  and  in 


THE   CARBONIFEROUS   AGE.  143 

this  in  one  only  out  of  more  than  sixty  beds  in  which 
erect  trees  have  been  found.  Bat  these  hollow  trees 
must  be  filled  up  in  order  to  preserve  their  contents ; 
and  as  inundation  and  subsequent  decay  have  been  the 
grave-diggers  for  the  reptiles,  so  inundations  filled  up 
their  graves  with  sand,  to  be  subsequently  hardened 
into  sandstone,  burying  up  at  the  same  time  the  newer 
vegetation  which  had  grown  upon  the  former  surface. 
The  idea  that  something  interesting  might  be  found  in 
these  erect  stumps,  first  occurred  to  Sir  C.  Lyell  and 
the  writer  while  exploring  the  beautiful  coast  cliffs 
of  Western  Nova  Scotia  in  1851;  and  it  was  in  ex- 
amining the  fragments  scattered  on  the  beach  that 
we  found  the  bones  of  the  first  Carboniferous  reptile 
discovered  in  America,  and  the  shell  of  the  oldest 
known  land  snail. 

These  were  not,  however,  the  earliest  known  in- 
stances of  Carboniferous  reptiles.  In  1841,  Sir  William 
Logan  found  footprints  of  a  reptile  at  Horton  Bluff,  in 
Nova  Scotia,  in  rocks  of  Lower  Carboniferous  age. 
In  1844,  Von  Dechen  found  reptilian  bones  in  the  coal- 
field of  Saarbruck ;  and  in  the  same  year  Dr.  King 
found  reptilian  footprints  in  the  Carboniferous  of 
Pennsylvania.  Like  Robinson  Crusoe  on  hia  desert 
island,  we  saw  the  footprints  before  we  knew  the 
animals  that  produced  them;  and  the  fact  that  there 
were  marks  on  a  slab  of  shale  or  sandstone  that  must 
have  been  made  by  an  animal  walking  on  feet,  was  as 
clear  and  startling  a  revelation  of  the  advent  of  a  new 
and  higher  form  of  life,  as  were  the  footprints  of  Man 


144      THE  STORY  OP  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

Friday.  Within  the  thirty  years  since  the  discovery 
of  the  first  slab  of  footprints,  the  knowledge  of  coal 
formation  reptiles  has  grown  apace.  I  can  scarcely  at 
present  sum  up  exactly  the  number  of  species,  but 
may  estimate  it  at  thirty-five  at  least.  I  must,  how- 
ever, here  crave  pardon  of  some  of  my  friends  for  the 
use  of  the  word  reptile.  In  my  younger  days  frogs 
and  toads  and  newts  used  to  be  reptiles ;  now  we  are 
told  that  they  are  more  like  fishes,  and  ought  to  be 
called  Batrachians  or  Amphibians,  whereas  reptiles  are 
a  higher  type,  more  akin  to  birds  than  to  these  lower 
and  more  grovelling  creatures.  The  truth  is,  that  the 
old  class  Keptilia  bridges  over  the  space  between  the 
fishes  and  the  birds,  and  it  is  in  some  degree  a  matter 
of  taste  whether  we  make  a  strong  line  at  the  two 
ends  of  it  alone,  or  add  another  line  in  the  middle.  I 
object  to  the  latter  course,  however,  in  the  period  of 
the  world's  history  of  which  I  am  now  writing,  since  I 
am  sure  that  ther.e  were  animals  in  those  days  which 
were  batrachians  in  some  points  and  true  reptiles  in 
others ;  while  there  are  some  of  them  in  regard  to 
which  it  is  quite  uncertain  whether  they  are  nearer  to 
the  one  group  or  the  other.  Although,  therefore, 
naturalists,  with  the  added  light  and  penetration 
which  they  obtain  by  striding  on  to  the  Mesozoic 
and  Modern  periods,  may  despise  my  old-fashioned 
grovellers  among  the  mire  of  the  coal-swamps,  I 
shall,  for  convenience,  persist  in  calling  them  reptiles 
in  a  general  way,  and  shall  bring  out  whatever  claims 
I  can  to  justify  this  title  for  some  of  them  at  least. 


THE   CARBONIFEROUS   AGE.  145 

Perhaps  the  most  fish-like  of  the  whole  are  the 
curious  creatures  from  the  coal  measures  of  Saarbruck, 
first  found  by  Yon  Dechen,  and  which  constitute  the 
genus  Archegosaurus.  Their  large  heads,  short  necks, 
supports  for  permanent  gills,  feeble  limbs,  and  long 
tails  for  swimming,  show  that  they  were  aquatic 
creatures  presenting  many  points  of  resemblance  to 
the  ganoid  fishes  with  which  they  must  have  asso- 
ciated ;  still  they  were  higher  than  these  in  possessing 
iungs  and  true  feet,  though  perhaps  better  adapted 
for  swimming  than  even  for  creeping. 

From  these  creatures  the.  other  coal  reptiles  diverge, 
and  ascend  along  two  lines  of  progress,  the  one  lead- 
ing to  gigantic  crocodile-like  animals  provided  with 
powerful  jaws  and  teeth,  and  probably  haunting  the 
margins  of  the  waters  and  preying  on  fishes;  the 
other  leading  to  small  and  delicate  lizard-like  species, 
with  well-developed  limbs,  large  ribs,  and  ornate 
horny  scales  and  spines,  living  on  land  and  feeding 
on  insects  and  similar  creatures. 

In  the  first  direction  we  have  a  considerable  num- 
ber of  species  found  in  the  Jarrow  coal-field  in  Ireland, 
and  described  by  Professor  Huxley.  Some  of  them 
were  like  snakes  in  their  general  form,  others  more 
like  lizards.  Still  higher  stand  such  animals  as 
Baphetes  and  Eosaurus  from  the  Nova  Scotia  coal-field 
and  Anthracosaurus  from  that  of  Scotland.  The  style 
and  habits  of  these  creatures  it  is  easy  to  understand, 
however  much  haggling  the  comparative  anatomists 
may  make  over  their  bones.  They  were  animals  of 


THE  STORY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

various  size,  ranging  from  a  foot  to  at  least  ten  feet 
in  length,  the  body  generally  lizard-like  in  form, 
with  stout  limbs  and  a  flattened  tail  useful  in  swim- 
ming. Their  heads  were  flat,  stout,  and  massive,  with 


Pig.  16.— BESTORATIOB-S   OP  BAPHETES,   DENDBEKPETON.  HTLOISTOMUS,  AND   HYI/HB- 
PETON,  WI1H    CAKBONIFEBOUS   PLANTS  IN   THE   DISTANCE. 

large  teeth,  strengthened  by  the  insertion  and  con- 
volution of  plates  of  enamel.  The  fore  limbs  were 
probably  larger  than  the  hind  limbs,  the  better  to 
enable  them  to  raise  themselves  out  of  the  water. 


THE   CARBONIFEROUS   AGE.  147 

The  belly  was  strengthened  by  bony  plates  and  closely 
imbricated  scales,  to  resist,  perhaps,  the  attacks  of 
fishes  from  beneath,  and  to  enable  them  without 
injury  to  drag  their  heavy  bodies  over  trunks  of  trees 
and  brushwood,  whether  in  the  water  or  on  the  land. 
Their  general  aspect  and  mode  of  life  were  therefore 
by  no  means  unlike  those  of  modern  alligators;  and 
in  the  vast  swamps  of  the  coal  measures,  full  of  ponds 
and  sluggish  streams  swarming  with  fish,  such  crea- 
tures must  have  found  a  most  suitable  habitat,  and 
probably  existed  in  great  numbers,  basking  on  the 
muddy  banks,  surging  through  the  waters,  and  filling 
the  air  with  their  bellowings.  The  most  curious  point 
about  these  creatures  is,  that  while  rigid  anatomy 
regards  them  as  allied  in  structure  more  to  Irogs  and 
toads  and  newts  than  to  true  lizards,  it  is  obvious  to 
common  sense  that  they  were  practically  crocodiles; 
and  even  anatomy  must  admit  that  their  great  ribs 
and  breastplates,  and  powerful  teeth  and  limbs,  in- 
dicate a  respiration,  circulation,  and  general  vitality, 
quite  as  high  as  those  of  the  proper  reptiles.  Hence, 
it  happens  that  very  different  views  are  stated  as  to 
their  affinities  ;  questions  into  which  we  need  not  now 
enter,  satisfied  with  the  knowledge  of  the  general  ap- 
pearance and  mode  of  life  of  these  harbingers  of  the 
reptilian  life  of  the  succeeding  geological  periods. 

In  the  other  direction,  we  find  several  animals  of 
small  size  but  better  developed  limbs,  leading  to  a 
group  of  graceful  little  creatures,  quite  as  perplexing 
with  regard  to  affinities  as  those  first  mentioned,  but 


148  THE    STO.RY   OF   THE    EARTH   AND   MAN. 

tending  towards  the  smaller  lizards  of  the  modern 
world.  At  the  top  of  these  I  may  place  the  genus 
Hylonomus  from  hollow  fossil  trees  of  Nova  Scotia, 
of  which  two  species  are  represented  as  restored  in 
our  illustration.  In  these  restorations  I  have  adhered 
as  faithfully  as  possible  to  the  proportions  of  parts  as 
seen  in  my  specimens.  Imagine  a  little  animal  six 
or  seven  inches  long,  with  small  short  head,  not  so 
flat  as  those  of  most  lizards,  but  with  a  raised  fore- 
head, giving  it  an  aspect  of  some  intelligence.  Its 
general  form  is  that  of  a  lizard,  but  with  the  hind 
feet  somewhat  large,  to  aid  it  in  leaping  and  standing 
erect,  and  long  and  flexible  toes.  Its  belly  is  covered 
with  bony  scales,  its  sides  with  bright  and  probably 
coloured  scale  armour  of  horny  consistency,  and  its 
neck  and  back  adorned  with  horny  crests,  tubercles, 
and  pendants.  It  runs,  leaps,  and  glides  through  the 
herbage  of  the  coal  forests,  intent  on  the  pursuit  of 
snails  and  insects,  its  eye  glancing  and  its  bright 
scales  shining  in  the  sun.  This  is .  a  picture  of  the 
best  known  species  of  Hylonomus  drawn  from  the 
life.  Yet  the  anatomist,  when  he  examines  the  im- 
perfectly-ossified joints  of  its  backbone,  and  the 
double  joint  at  the  back  of  its  skull,  will  tell  you 
that  it  is  after  all  little  better  than  a  mere  newt,  an 
ass  in  a  lion's  skin,  a  jackdaw  with  borrowed  feathers, 
and  that  it  has  no  right  to  have  fine  scales,  or  to 
be  able  to  run  on  the  land.  It  may  be  so;  but  I  may 
plead  in  its  behalf,  that  in  the  old  coal  times,  when 
reptiles  with  properly-made  skeletons  had  not  been 


THE    CARBONIFEROUS   AGE.  149 

created,  the  next  best  animals  may  have  been  entitled 
to  wear  their  clothes  and  to  assume  their  functions  as 
well.  In  short,  functionally  or  officially,  our  ancient 
batrachians  were  reptiles;  in  point  of  rank,  as  mea- 
sured by  type  of  skeleton,  they  belonged  to  a  lower 
grade.  To  this  view  of  the  case  I  think  most  natural- 
ists will  agree,  and  they  will  also  admit  that  the  pro- 
gress of  our  views  has  been  in  this  direction,  since 
the  first  discovery  of  Carboniferous  air-breathing 
vertebrates.  In  evidence  of  this  I  may  quote  from 
Professor  Huxley's  description  of  his  recently  found 
species,*  After  noticing  the  prevalent  views  that  the 
coal  reptiles  were  of  low  organization,  he  says:  "Dis- 
coveries in  the  Nova  Scotia  coal-fields  first  shook 
this  view,  which  ceased  to  be  tenable  when  the  great 
Anthracosaurus  of  the  Scotch  coal-field  was  found  to 
have  well -ossified  biconcave  vertebrae." 

The  present  writer  may,  however,  be  suspected  of 
a  tendency  to  extend  forms  of  life  backward  in  time, 
since  it  has  fallen  to  his  lot  to  be  concerned  in  this 
process  of  stretching  backward  in  several  cases.  He 
has  named  and  described  the  oldest  known  animal. 
He  has  described  the  oldest  true  exogen,  and  the 
oldest  known  pine-tree.  He  was  concerned  in  the 
discovery  of  the  oldest  known  land  snails,  and  found 
uhe  oldest  millipedes.  He  has  just  described  the 
oldest  bituminous  bed  composed  of  spore-cases,  and 
he  claims  that  his  genus  Hylonomus  includes  the 

*  Geological  Magazine,  vol.  iii. 


J50      THE  STORY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

oldest  animals  which  have  a  fair  claim  to  be  considered 
reptiles.  Still  this  discovery  of  old  things  comes 
rather  of  fortune  and  careful  search  than  of  a  desire 
to  innovate ;  and  a  distinction  should  be  drawn  be- 
tween that  kind  of  novelty  which  consists  in  the 
development  of  new  truths,  and  that  which  consists 
in  the  invention  of  new  fancies,  or  the  revival  of  old 
ones.  There  is  too  much  of  this  last  at  present;  and 
it  would  be  a  more  promising  line  of  work  for  our 
younger  naturalists,  if  they  would  patiently  and 
honestly  question  nature,  instead  of  trying  to  extort 
astounding  revelations  by  throwing  her  on  the  rack 
of  their  own  imaginations. 

We  may  pause  here  a  moment  to  contemplate  the 
greatness  of  the  fact  we  have  been  studying — the 
introduction  into  our  world  of  the  earliest  known 
vertebrate  animals  which  could  open  their  nostrils 
and  literally  "breathe  the  breath  of  life."  All  pre- 
vious animals  that  we  know,  except  a  few  Devonian 
insects,  had  respired  in  the  water  by  means  of  gills 
or  similar  apparatus,  Now  we  not  only  have  the 
little  land  snails,  with  their  imperfect  substitutes  for 
lungs,  but  animals  which  must  have  been  able  to  draw 
in  the  vital  air  into  capacious  chambered  lungs,  and 
with  this  power  must  have  enjoyed  a  far  higher  and 
more  active  style  of  vitality;  and  must  have  pos- 
sessed the  faculty  of  uttering  truly  vocal  sounds. 
What  wondrous  possibilities  unknown  to  these  crea- 
tures, perhaps  only  dimly  perceived  by  such  rational 
intelligences  as  may  have  watched  the  growth  of  our 


THE   CARBONIFEROUS  AGE.  151 

young  world,  were  implied  in  these  gifts.  It  is  one 
of  the  remarkable  points  in  the  history  of  creation  in 
Genesis,  that  this  step  of  the  creative  work  is  emphat- 
ically marked.  Of  all  the  creatures  we  have  noticed 
up  to  this  point,  it  is  stated  that  God  said,  "  Let  the 
waters  bring  them  forth/' — but  it  is  said  that  "  God 
created"  great  reptiles  (tanninim).*  No  doubt  these 
"  great  tanninim"  culminate  in  the  succeeding  Meso- 
zoic  age,  but  their  first  introduction  dates  as  far  back 
as  the  Carboniferous;  and  this  introduction  was  em- 
phatically a  creation,  as  being  the  commencement  of 
a  new  feature  among  living  beings.  What  further 
differences  may  be  implied  in  the  formulae,  "  Let  the 
waters  produce"  and  "  God  created,"  we  do  not  know; 
very  probably  he  who  wrote  the  words  did  not  fully 
know.  But  if  we  could  give  a  scientific  expression 
to  this  difference,  and  specify  the  cases  to  which  its 
terms  apply,  we  might  be  able  to  solve  one  of  the 
most  vexed  questions  of  biology. 

Let  us  observe,  however,  that  even  here,  where,  if 
anywhere,  we  have  actual  creation,  especial  pains  are 
taken  to  bridge  over  the  gap,  and  to  prevent  any 
appearance  of  discontinuity  in  the  work.  The  ganoid 
fishes  of  the  coal  period  very  probably  had,  like  their 
modern  congeners,  well-developed  air-bladders,  serv- 
ing to  some  extent,  though  very  imperfectly,  as  lungs. 
The  humbler  and  more  aquatic  reptiles  of  the  period 
retained  the  gills,  and  also  some  of  the  other  features 

*  Not  "  whales,"  as  in  our  version. 


152      THE  STORY  OF  THE  EAETH  AND  MAN. 

of  the  fishes ;  so  that,  like  some  modern  creatures  of 
their  class,  they  stood,  as  to  respiration,  on  two  stools, 
and  seemed  unwilling  altogether  to  commit  them- 
selves to  the  new  mode  of  life  in  the  uncongenial  ele- 
ment of  air.  Even  the  larger  and  more  lizard-like  of 
the  coal  reptiles  may — though  this  we  do  not  certainly 
know,  and  in  some  cases  there  are  reasons  for  doubting 
it — have  passed  the  earliest  stage  of  their  lives  in  the 
water  as  gilled  tadpoles,  in  the  manner  of  our  modern 
frogs.  Thus  at  the  very  point  where  one  of  the 
greatest  advances  of  animal  life  has  its  origin,  we 
have  no  sudden  stop,  but  an  inclined  plane;  and  yet, 
as  I  have  elsewhere  endeavoured  to  show  by  argu- 
ments which  cannot  be  repeated  here,*  we  have  not  a 
shadow  of  reason  to  conclude  that,  in  the  coal  period, 
fishes  were  transmuted  into  reptiles. 

But  the  reader  may  be  wearied  with  our  long 
sojourn  in  the  pestilential  atmosphere  of  the  coal 
swamps,  and  in  the  company  of  their  low-browed  and 
squalid  inhabitants.  Let  us  turn  for  a  little  to  the 
sea,  and  notice  the  animal  life  of  the  great  coral  reefs 
and  shell  beds  preserved  for  us  in  the  Carboniferous 
limestone.  Before  doing  so,  one  point  merits  atten- 
tion. The  coal  formation  for  the  first  time  distinctly 
presents  to  us  the  now  familiar  differences  in  the 
inhabitants  of  the  open  sea  and  those  of  creeks,  estu- 
aries *md  lakes.  Such  distinctions  are  unknown  to 
us  in  the  Silurian.  There  all  is  sea.  TJiey  begin  to 

*  "Air-breathers  of  the  Coal  Period,"  p.  77. 


THE    CARBONIFEROUS   AGE.  153 

appear  in  the  Devonian,  in  the  shallow  fish-banks  and 
the  Anodon-like  bivalves  found  with  fossil  plants. 
In  the  coal  period  they  become  very  manifest.  The 
animals  found  in  the  shales  with  the  coal  are  all,  even 
the  aquatic  ones,  distinct  from  those  of  the  open  seas 
of  the  period.  Some  of  them  may  have  lived  in  salt 
or  brackish  water,  but  not  in  the  open  sea.  They  are 
creatures  of  still  and  shallow  waters.  It  is  true  that 
in  some  coal-fields  marine  beds  occur  in  the  coal 
measures  with  their  characteristic  fossils,  but  these 
are  quite  distinct  from  the  usual  animal  remains  of 
the  coal-fields,  and  mark  occasional  overflows  of  the 
sea,  owing  to  subsidence  of  the  land.  It  is  important 
to  notice  this  geographical  difference,  marking  the 
greater  specialisation  and  division  of  labour,  if  we 
may  so  speak,  that  was  in  the  process  of  introduction. 
The  sea  of  the  Carboniferous  period  presented  in 
the  main  similar  great  groups  of  animals  to  those 
of  the  Devonian,  represented  however  by  different 
species.  We  may  notice  merely  some  of  the  salient 
points  of  resemblance  or  difference.  The  old  types 
of  corals  continue  in  great  force ;  but  it  is  their  last 
time,  for  they  rapidly  decay  in  the  succeeding  Per- 
mian and  disappear.  The  Crinoids  are  as  numerous 
and  beautiful  as  in  any  other  period,  and  here  for  the 
first  time  we  meet  with  the  new  and  higher  type  of 
the  sea-urchin,  in  large  and  beautiful  species.  One 
curious  group,  that  of  the  Pentremites,  a  sort  of  larval 
form,  is  known  here  alone.  Among  the  lamp-shells 
we  may  note,  as  peculiarly  and  abundantly  Garboni- 


154       THE  8TOEY  OP  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

ferous,  those  with  one  valve  very  convex  and  the 
other  very  concave  and  anchored  in  the  mud  by  long 
spines  instead  of  a  peduncle  attached  to  stones  and 
rocks.*  There  are  many  beautiful  shells  allied  to 
modern  scallops,,  and  not  a  few  sea-snails  of  various 
soi  ts.  The  grand  Orthoceratites  of  the  Silurian  di- 
minish in  size  preparatory  to  their  disappearance  in 
the  Permian,  and  the  more  modern  type  of  Nautilus 
and  its  allies  becomes  prevalent.  Among  the  Crus- 
taceans we  may  notice  the  appearance  of  the  Limulus, 
or  king-crab,  of  which  the  single  little  species  de- 
scribed by  Woodward  from  the  Upper  Silurian  may 
be  regarded  as  merely  a  prophecy.  It  is  curious  that 
the  Carboniferous  king-crabs  are  very  small,  appa- 
rently another  case  of  a  new  form  appearing  in 
humble  guise;  but  as  the  young  of  modern  king- 
crabs  haunt  creeks  and  swampy  flats,  while  the  adults 
live  in  the  sea,  it  may  be  that  only  the  young  of  the 
Carboniferous  species  are  yet  known  to  us,  the  speci- 
mens found  being  mostly  in  beds  likely  to  be  fre- 
quented by  the  young  rather  than  by  the  full-grown 
individuals. 

The  old  order  of  the  Trilobites,  which  has  accom- 
panied us  from  Primordial  times,  here  fails  us,  and  a 
few  depauperated  species  alone  remain,  the  sole  sur- 
vivors of  their  ancient  race — small,  unornamented.,  and 
feeble  representatives  of  a  once  numerous  and  influen- 
tial tribe.  How  strange  that  a  group  of  creatures  so 
numerous  and  apparently  so  well  adapted  to  conditions 
*  The  Productidse. 


THE    CARBONIFEROUS   AGE.  155 

of  existence  which  still  continue  in  the  sea,  should 
thus  die  out,  while  the  little  bivalved  crustaceans, 
which  began  life  almost  as  far  back  and  lived  on  the 
same  sea-floors  with  the  Trilobites,  should  still  abound 
in  all  our  seas ;  and  while  the  king-crabs,  of  precisely 
similar  habits  with  the  Trilobites,  should  apparently 
begin  to  prosper.  Equally  strange  is  the  fate  of  the 
great  swimming  Eurypterids  which  we  saw  in  the 
Devonian.  They  also  continue,  but  in  diminished 
force,  in  the  Carboniferous,  and  there  lay  down  for 
ever  their  well -jointed  cuirasses  and  formidable  wea- 
pons, while  a  few  little  shrimp-like  creatures,  their 
contemporaries,  form  the  small  point  of  the  wedge 
of  our  great  tribes  of  squillas  and  crabs  and  lobsters. 
Some  years  ago  the  late  lamented  palaeontologist, 
Salter,  a  man  who  scarcely  leaves  his  equal  in  his 
department,  in  conjunction  with  Mr.  Henry  Wood- 
ward, prepared  a  sort  of  genealogical  chart  of  the 
Crustacea  on  which  these  facts  are  exhibited.  Some 
new  species  have  since  been  discovered,  and  a  little 
additional  light  about  affinities  has  been  obtained; 
but  taken  as  it  stands,  the  history  of  the  Crustacea  as 
there  shown  in  one  glance,  has  in  it  more  teaching 
on  the  philosophy  of  creation  than  I  have  been  able 
to  find  in  many  ponderous  quartos  of  tenfold  its  pre- 
tensions. Had  Salter  been  enabled,  with  the  aid  of 
other  specialists  like  Woodward,  to  complete  similar 
charts  of  other  classes  of  invertebrate  animals,  scien- 
tific palaeontology  in  England  would  have  been  further 
advanced  than  it  is  likely  to  be  in  the  next  ten  years. 


156       THE  STORY  OP  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

To  return  to  our  Trilobites  :  one  of  the  most  re« 
markable  points  in  their  history  is  their  appearance 
in  full  force  in  the  Primordial.  In  these  rocks  we 
have  some  of  the  largest  in  size — some  species  of 
Paradoxides  being  nearly  two  feet  long,  and  some  of 
the  very  smallest.  We  have  some  with  the  most  nu- 
merous joints,  others  with  the  fewest ;  some  with  very 
large  tails,  others  with  very  small;  some  with  no 
ornamentation,  others  very  ornate;  some  with  large 
eyes,  others  with  none  that  have  been  made  out, 
though  it  is  scarcely  probable  that  they  were  wholly 
blind.  They  increased  in  numbers  and  variety  through 
the  Silurian  and  Devonian,  and  then  suddenly  drop 
off  at  the  end  of  the  Lower  Carboniferous.  Through- 
out their  whole  term  of  existence  they  kept  rigidly 
to  that  type  of  the  mud-plough  which  the  king-crab 
still  retains,  and  which  renders  the  anterior  extrem- 
ity so  different  from  that  of  the  ordinary  Crustacea. 
They  constitute  one  of  the  few  cases  in  which  we  seem 
to  see  before  us  the  whole  history  of  an  animal  type ; 
and  the  more  we  look  into  that  history,  the  more  do 
we  wonder  at  their  inscruta.ble  introduction,  the  unity 
and  variety  mingled  in  their  progress,  and  their 
strange  and  apparently  untimely  end.  1  have  already 
referred  (page  95)  to  the  use  which  Barrande  makes 
of  this  as  an  argument  against  theories  of  evolution; 
but  must  refer  to  his  work  for  the  details. 

One  word  more  I  must  say  before  leaving  their 
graves.  I  have  reason  to  believe  that  they  were 
not  only  the  diggers  of  the  burrows,  and  of  the 


THE    CARBONIFEROUS   AGE.  157 

ladder-tracks  and  pitted  tracks  *  of  the  Silurian  and 
Primordial,  but  that  with  the  strokes  of  their  rounded 
or  spinous  tails,  the  digging  of  their  snouts,,  and  the 
hoe- work  of  their  hard  upper  lips,  or  Hypostomes, 
they  made  nearly  all  those  strange  marks  in  the  Pri- 
mordial mud  which  have  been  referred  to  fucoids,  and 
even  to  higher  plants.  The  Trilobites  worked  over 
all  the  mud  bottoms  of  the  Primordial,  even  in  places 
where  no  remains  of  them  occur,  and  the  peculiarities 
of  the  markings  which  they  left  are  to  be  explained 
only  by  a  consideration  of  the  structures  of  individual 
species. 

I  had  almost  lost  sight  of  the  fishes  of  the  Carboni- 
ferous period,  but  after  saying  so  much  of  those  of 
the  Devonian,  it  would  be  unfair  to  leave  their  suc- 
cessors altogether  unnoticed.  In  the  Carboniferous 
we  lose  those  broad-snouted  plate-covered  species 
that  form  so  conspicuous  a  feature  in  the  Devonian ; 
and  whatever  its  meaning,  it  is  surely  no  accident 
that  these  mud-burrowing  fishes  should  decay  along 
with  those  crustacean  mud-burro wers,  the  Trilobites. 
But  swarms  of  fishes  remain,  confined,  as  in  the  De- 
vonian, wholly  to  the  two  orders  of  the  Gar-fishes 
(Ganoids)  and  the  sharks  (Placoids).  In  the  former 
we  have  a  multitude  of  small  and  beautiful  species 
haunting  the  creeks  and  ponds  of  the  coal  swamps, 
and  leaving  vast  quantities  of  their  remains  in  the 
shaly  and  even  coaly  beds  formed  in  such  places. 
Such  were  the  pretty,  graceful  fishes  of  the  genera 

*  Climactichnitcs  and  Protichnites. 


158      THE  STOEY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

Palceoniscus  and  Amfilypterus.  Pursuing  and  feeding 
on  these  were  larger  ganoids,  armed  with  strong  bony 
scales,  and  formidable  conical  or  sharp-edged  teeth. 
Of  these  were  Rhizodus  and  Acrolepis.  There  were 
besides  multitudes  of  sharks  whose  remains  consist 
almost  wholly  of  their  teeth  and  spines,  their  cartila- 
ginous skeletons  having  perished.  One  group  was 
allied  to  the  few  species  of  modern  sharks  whose 
mouths  are  paved  with  flat  teeth  for  crushing  shells. 
These  were  the  most  abundant  sharks  of  the  Carboni- 
ferous— slow  and  greedy  monsters,  haunting  shell 
banks  and  coral  reefs,  and  grinding  remorselessly  all 
the  shell-fishes  that  came  in  their  way.  There  were 
also  sharks  furnished  with  sharp  and  trenchant  teeth, 
which  must  have  been  the  foes  of  the  smaller  mailed 
fishes,  pursuing  them  into  creeks  and  muddy  shallows ; 
and  if  we  may  judge  from  the  quantity  of  their  re- 
mains in  some  of  these  places,  sometimes  perishing 
in  their  eager  efforts.  On  the  whole,  the  fishes  of  the 
Carboniferous  were,  in  regard  to  their  general  type,  a 
continuation  of  those  of  the  Devonian,  but  the  sharks 
and  the  scaly  ganoids  were  relatively  more  numerous. 
They  differed  from  our  modern  fishes  in  the  absence 
of  the  ordinary  horny-scaled  type  to  which  all  our 
more  common  fishes  belong,  and  in  the  prevalence  of 
that  style  of  tail  which  has  been  termed  "  heterocer- 
cal,"  in  which  the  continuation  of  the  backbone  forms 
the  upper  lobe  of  the  tail,  a  style  which,  if  we  may 
judge  from  modern  examples,  gives  more  power  of 
upward  and  downward  movement,  and  is  especially 


THE   CARBONIFEROUS   AGE.  159 

suitable  to  fishes  which  search  for  food  only  at  the 
bottom,  or  only  above  the  surface  of  the  waters. 

Most  reluctantly  I  must  here  leave  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  periods  of  the  world's  history,  and  reserve 
to  our  next  chapter  the  summation  of  the  history  of 
the  older  world  of  life  in  its  concluding  stage,  the 
Permian. 


CHAPTER  VH. 

TFTTS    PERMIAN    AGE    AND    CLOSE    OF    THE    PALEOZOIC. 

THE  immense  swamps  and  low  forest-clad  plains 
which  occupied  the  continental  areas  of  the  Northern 
Hemisphere,  and  which  we  now  know  extended  also 
into  the  regions  south  of  the  equator,  appear  at  the 
close  of  the  Carboniferous  age  to  have  again  sunk 
beneath  the  waves,  or  to  have  relapsed  into  the  con- 
dition of  sand  and  gravel  banks ;  for  a  great  thickness 
of  such  deposits  rests  on  the  coal  measures  and  con- 
stitutes the  upper  coal  formation,  the  upper  "barren 
measures "  of  the  coal-miners.  There  is  something 

O 

grand  in  the  idea  of  this  subsidence  of  a  world  of 
animal  and  vegetable  life  beneath  the  waters.  The 
process  was  very  slow, — so  slow  that  at  first  vegetable 
growth  and  deposition  of  silt  kept  pace  with  it ;  and 
this  is  the  reason  of  the  immense  series  of  deposits, 
in  some  places  nearly  15,000  feet  thick,  which  inclose 
or  rest  upon  the  coal  beds ;  but  at  length  it  became 
more  rapid,  so  that  forests  and  their  inhabitants 
perished,  and  the  wild  surf  drifted  sand  and  pebbles 
over  their  former  abodes.  So  the  Carboniferous 
world,  like  that  of  Noah,  being  overflowed  with 
water,  perished.  But  it  was  not  a  wicked  world 
drowned  for  its  sins,  but  merely  an  old  and  neces- 
sarily preliminary  system,  which  had  fully  served  its 


PERMIAN    AGE    AND   CLOSE    OF   THE    PALEOZOIC.       161 

purpose;  and,  like  the  stubble  of  last  year,  must  be 
turned  under  by  the  plough  that  it  may  make  way 
for  a  new  verdure.  The  plough  passed  over  it,  and 
the  winter  of  the  Permian  came,  and  then  the  spring 
of  a  new  age. 

The  Permian  and  the  succeeding  Triassic  are  some- 
what chilly  and  desolate  periods  of  the  earth's  history. 
The  one  is  the  twilight  of  the  Palaeozoic  day,  the  other 
is  the  dawn  of  the  Mesozoic.  Yet  to  the  philosophical 
geologist  no  ages  excel  them  in  interest.  They  are 
times  of  transition,  when  old  dynasties  and  races  pass 
away  and  are  replaced  by  new  and  vigorous  successors, 
founding  new  empires  and  introducing  new  modes  of 
life  and  action. 

Three  great  leading  points  merit  our  attention  in 
entering  on  the  Permian  age.  The  first  is  the  earth- 
movements  of  the  period.  The  second  is  the  resulting 
mineral  characteristics  of  the  deposits  formed.  The 
third  is  the  aspect  of  the  animal  and  vegetable  life  of 
this  age  in  their  relation  more  especially  to  those  which 
preceded. 

With  respect  to  the  first  point  above  named,  the 
earth's  crust  was  subjected  in  the  Permian  period  to 
some  of  the  grandest  movements  which  have  occurred 
in  the  whole  course  of  geologic  time,  and  we  can  fix 
the  limits  of  these,  in  Europe  and  America  at  least, 
with  some  distinctness.  If  we  examine  the  Permian 
rocks  in  England  and  Germany,  we  shall  find  that 
everywhere  they  lie  on  the  upturned  edges  of  the 

preceding  Carboniferous  beds.     In  other  words,  the 

8* 


PERMIAN   AGE   AND   CLOSE    OF  THE    PAL2EOZOIC.       163 

latter  have  been  thrown  into  a  series  of  folds,  and  the 
tops  of  these  folds  have  been  more  or  less  worn  away 
before  the  Permian  beds  were  placed  on  them.  But 
if  we  pass  on  to  the  eastward,  in  the  great  plain 
between  the  Volga  and  the  Ural  mountains,  where,  in 
the  "  ancient  kingdom  of  Perm,"  the  grc°  L^st  known 
area  of  these  rocks  is  found,  an  area  equal  in  extent  to 
twice  that  of  France,  and  which  Sir  R.  I.  Murchison, 
who  first  proposed  the  name,  took  as  the  typical 
district,  we  find,  on  the  contrary,  that  the  Permian  and 
Carboniferous  are  conformable  to  one  another.  If 
now  we  cross  the  Atlantic  and  inquire  how  the  case 
stands  in  America,  we  shall  find  it  precisely  the  same. 
Here  the  great  succession  of  earth- waves  constituting 
the  Appalachian  Mountains  rises  abruptly  at  the  eastern 
edge  of  the  continent,  and  becomes  flatter  and  flatter, 
until,  in  the  broad  plains  west  of  the  Mississippi,  the 
Permian  beds  appear,  as  in  Russia,  resting  upon  the 
Carboniferous  so  quietly  that  it  is  not  always  easy  to 
draw  a  line  of  separation  between  them.  As  Dana 
has  remarked,  we  find  at  the  western  side  of  Europe 
and  the  eastern  side  of  America,  great  disturbances 
inuagurating  the  Permiau  period  ;  and  in  the  interior 
of  both,  in  the  plains  between  the  Yolga  and  the  Ural 
in  one,  and  between  the  Mississippi  and  Rocky  Moun- 
tains in  the  other,  an  entire  absence  of  these  disturb- 
ances. The  main  difference  is,  that  in  eastern  America 
the  whole  Carboniferous  areas  have  apparently  been  so 
raised  up  that  no  Permian  was  deposited  on  them, 
while  in  Europe  considerable  patches  of  the  disturbed 


164       THE  STOEY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

areas  became  or  remained  submerged.  Another 
American  geologist  has  largely  illustrated  the  fact 
that  the  movements  which  threw  up  the  Appalachian 
folds  were  strongest  to  the  eastward,  and  that  the 
ridges  of  rock  are  steopest  on  their  west  sides,  the 
force  which  caused  them  acting  from  the  direction  of 
the  sea.  It  seems  as  if  the  Atlantic  area  had  wanted 
elbow-room,  and  had  crushed  up  the  edges  of  the 
continents  next  to  it.  In  other  words,  in  the  lapse  of 
the  Palaeozoic  ages  the  nucleus  of  the  earth  had  shrunk 
away  from  its  coating  of  rocky  layers,  which  again 
collapsed  into  great  wrinkles. 

Such  a  process  may  seem  difficult  of  comprehension. 
To  understand  it  we  must  bear  in  mind  some  of  its 
conditions*  First,  the  amount  of  this  wrinkling  was 
extremely  small  relatively  to  the  mass  of  the  earth. 
In  the  diagram  on  page  162  it  is  greatly  exag- 
gerated, yet  is  seen  to  be  quite  insignificant,  however 
gigantic  in  comparison  with  microscopic  weaklings 
like  ourselves.  Secondly,  it  was  probably  extremely 
slow.  Beds  of  solid  rock  cannot  be  suddenly  bent  into 
great  folds  without  breaking,  and  the  abruptness  of 
some  of  the  folds  may  be  seen  from  our  figure,  copied 
from  Rogers  (page  162),  of  some  of  the  foldings  of  the 
Appalachian  Mountains.  Thirdly,  the  older  rocks 
below  the  Carboniferous  and  the  Devonian  must  have 
been  in  a  softened  and  plastic  state,  and  so  capable  of 
filling  up  the  vacancies  left  by  the  bending  of  the  hard 
crust  above.  In  evidence  of  this,  we  have  in  the  Lower 
Permian  immense  volcanic  ejections — lavas  and  othei 


PERMIAN    AGE    AND    CLOSE    OF    THE    PALEOZOIC.       105 

molten  rocks  spewed  out  to  the  surface  from  the 
'softened  and  molten  masses  below.  Fourthly,  the 
basin  of  the  Atlantic  must  have  been  sufficiently  strong 
to  resist  the  immense  lateral  pressure,  so  that  the 
yielding  was  all  concentrated  on  the  weaker  parts  of 
the  crust  near  the  old  fractures  at  the  margins  of  the 
great  continents.  In  these  places  also,  as  we  have 
seen  in  previous  papers,  the  greatest  thickness  of 
deposits  had  been  formed;  so  that  there  was  great 
downward  pressure,  and  probably,  also,  greater  soften- 
ing of  the  lower  part  of  the  crust.  Fifthly,  as  sug- 
gested in  a  previous  chapter,  the  folding  of  the  earth's 
crust  may  have  resulted  from  the  continued  shrinkage 
of  its  interior  in  consequence  of  cooling,  leading  after 
long  intervals  to  collapse  of  the  surface.  Astronomers 
have,  however,  suggested  another  cause.  The  earth 
bulges  at  the  equator,  and  is  flattened  at  the  poles  in 
consequence  of,  or  in  connection  with,  the  swiftness 
of  its  rotation ;  but  it  has  been  shown  that  the  rotation 
of  the  earth  is  being  very  gradually  lessened  by  the 
attraction  of  the  moon.*  Pierce  has  recently  brought 
forward  the  idea  f  that  this  diminution  of  rotation,  by 
causing  the  crust  to  subside  in  the  equatorial  regions 
and  expand  in  the  polar,  might  produce  the  move- 
ments observed ;  and  which,  according  to  Lesley,  have 
amounted  in  the  whole  course  of  geological  time  to 
about  two  per  cent,  of  the  diameter  of  our  globe.  Wa 

*  Sir  William  Thomson,  who  quotes  Adams  and  Delaunay. 
f  "  Nature,"  February,  1871. 


166       THE  STOEY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

thus  have  two  causes,  either  of  which  seems  sufficient 
to  produce  the  effect. 

Viewed  in  this  way,  the  great  disturbances  at  the 
close  of  the  Palgeozoic  period  constitute  one  of  the 
most  instructive  examples  in  the  whole  history  of  the 
earth  of  that  process  of  collapse  to  which  the  crust 
was  subject  after  long  intervals,  and  of  which  no 
equally  great  instance  occurs  except  at  the  close  of 
the  Laurentian  and  the  close  of  the  Mesozoic.  The 
mineral  peculiarities  of  the  Permian  are  also  accounted 
for  by  the  above  considerations.  Let  us  now  notice 
some  of  these.  In  nearly  all  parts  of  the  world  the 
Permian  presents  thick  beds  of  red  sandstone  and 
conglomerate  as  marked  ingredients.  These,  as  we 
have  already  seen,  are  indications  of  rapid  deposition 
accompanying  changes  of  level.  In  the  Permian,  as 
elsewhere,  these  beds  are  accompanied  by  volcanic 
rocks,  indicating  the  subterranean  causes  of  the  dis- 
turbances. Again,  these  rocks  are  chiefly  abundant  in 
those  regions,  like  Western  Europe,  where  the  physical 
changes  were  at  a  maximum.  Another  remarkable 
feature  of  the  Permian  rocks  is  the  occurrence  of  great 
beds  of  magnesian  limestone,  or  dolomite.  In  England, 
the  thick  yellow  magnesian  limestone,  the  outcrop  of 
which  crosses  in  nearly  a  straight  line  through  Dur- 
ham, Yorkshire,  and  Nottingham,  marks  the  edge  o! 
a  great  Permian  sea  extending  far  to  the  eastward. 
In  the  marls  and  sandstones  of  the  Permian  period 
there  is  also  much  gypsum.  Now,  chemistry  shows  us 
that  magnesian  limestones  and  gypsums  are  likely  to 


PEEMIAN    A.GE   AND    CLOSE    OP   THE    PALEOZOIC.       lb'/ 

bo  deposited  where  sea  water,  which  always  contains 
salts  of  magnesia,  is  evaporating  in  limited  or  circum- 
scribed areas  into  which  carbonate  of  lime  and  carbon-\ 
ate  of  soda  are  being  carried  by  streams  from  the  land) 
or  springs  from  below;*  and  it  is  also  to  be  observea 
that  solutions  of  sulphuric  acid,  and  probably  also  oi 
sulphate  of  magnesia,  are  characteristic  products  of 
igneous  activity.  Hence  we  find  in  various  geological 
periods  magnesian  limestones  occurring  as  a  deposit  in 
limited  shallow  sea  basins,  and  also  in  connection  with 
volcanic  breccias.  Now  these  were  obviously  the  new 
Permian  conditions  of  what  had  once  been  the  wide 
flat  areas  of  the  Carboniferous  period.  Still  further, 
we  find  in  Europe,  as  characteristic  of  this  period, 
beds  impregnated  with  metallic  salts,  especially  of/ 
copper.  Of  this  kind  are  very  markedly  the  copper 
slates  of  Thuringia.  Such  beds  are  not,  any  more 
than  magnesian  limestones,  limited  to  this  age;  but 
they  are  eminently  characteristic  of  it.  To  produce 
them  it  is  required  that  water  should  bring  forth  from 
the  earth's  crust  large  quantities  of  metallic  salts,  and 
that  these  should  come  into  contact  with  vegetable 
matters  in  limited  submerged  areas,  so  that  sulphates 
of  the  metals  should  be  deoxidized  into  sulphides.  A 
somewhat  different  chemical  process,  as  already  ex- 
plained, was  very  active  in  the  coal  period,  and  was  * 
connected  with  the  production  of  its  iron  ores ;  but, 
in  the  Permian,  profound  and  extensive  fractures 
opened  up  the  way  to  the  deep  seats  of  copper  and 
*  Hunt,  "  Silliman's  Journal,"  1859  and  Ib6:i. 


; 


168      THE  STOEY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

'other  metals,  to  enrich  the  copper  slate  and  its  associ- 
ated beds.  It  is  also  to  be  observed  that  the  alkaline 
springs  and  waters  which  contain  carbonate  of  soda, 
very  frequently  hold  various  metallic  salts;  so  that 
where,  owing  to  the  action  of  such  waters,  magnesian 
limestone  is  being  deposited,  we  may  expect  also  to 
nd  various  metallic  ores. 

Let  us  sum  up  shortly  this  history.  We  have  fold- 
ings of  the  earth's  crust,  causing  volcanic  action  and 
producing  limited  and  shallow  sea-basins,  and  at  the 
same  time  causing  the  evolution  of  alkaline  and  metal- 
liferous springs.  The  union  of  these  mechanical  and 
chemical  causes  explains  at  once  the  conglomerates, 
the  red  sandstones,  the  trap  rocks,  the  magnesian  lime- 
stones, the  gypsum,  and  the  metalliferous  beds  of  the 
Permian.  The  same  considerations  explain  the  occur- 
rence of  similar  deposits  in  various  other  ages  of  the 
earth's  history ;  though,  perhaps,  in  none  of  these 
were  they  so  general  over  the  Northern  Hemisphere  as 
in  the  Permian. 

From  the  size  of  the  stones  in  some  of  the  Permian 
conglomerates,  and  their  scratched  surfaces,  it  has 
been  supposed  that  there  were  in  this  period,  on  the 
margins  of  the  continents,  mountains  sufficiently  high 
to  have  snow-clad  summits,  and  to  send  down  glaciers, 
bearing  rocks  and  stones  to  the  sea,  on  which  may 
have  floated,  as  now  in  the  North  Atlantic,  huge  ice- 
bergs.* This  would  be  quite  in  accordance  with  the 

*  Ramsay  has  ably  illustrated  this  in  the  Permian  conglomer* 
ates  of  England. 


PERMIAN   AGE   AND   CLOSE    Otf   THE    PALAEOZOIC. 

great  elevation  of  land  which  we  know  actually  occur- 
red ;  and  the  existence  of  snow-clad  mountains  along 
with  volcanoes  would  be  a  union  of  fire  and  frost  of 
which  we  still  have  examples  in  some  parts  of  the 
earth's  surface,  and  this  in  proximity  to  forms  of 
vegetable  life  very  similiar  to  those  which  we  know 
existed  in  the  Permian. 

With  the  exception  of  a  few  small  and  worthless 
beds  in  Russia,  the  Permian  is  not  known  to  contain 
any  coal.  The  great  swamps  of  the  coal  period  had 
disappeared.  In  part  they  were  raised  up  into 
rugged  mountains.  In  part  they  were  sunken  into 
shallow  sea  areas.  Thus,  while  there  was  much  dry 
land,  there  was  little  opportunity  for  coal  production, 
or  for  the  existence  of  those  rank  forests  which  had 
accumulated  so  much  vegetable  matter  in  the  Car- 
boniferous age.  In  like  manner  the  fauna  of  the 
Permian  waters  is  poor.  According  to  Murchison, 
the  Permian  limestones  of  Europe  have  afforded  little 
more  than  one-third  as  many  species  of  fossils  as  the 
older  Carboniferous.  The  fossils  themselves  also  have 
a  stunted  and  depauperated  aspect,  indicating  con-  -! 
ditions  of  existence  unfavourable  to  them.  This  is 
curiously  seen  in  contrasting  Davidson's  beautiful  il-  » 
lustrations  of  the  British  Lamp-shells  of  the  Permian 
and  Carboniferous  periods.  Another  illustrative  fact 
is  the  exceptionally  small  size  of  the  fossils  even  in 
limestones  of  the  Carboniferous  period  when  these  are 
associated  with  gypsum,  red  sandstones,  and  magne- 
sian  minerals ;  as,  for  instance,  those  of  some  parts  of 


170      THE  STGEY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

Nova  Scotia.  In  truth,  the  peculiar  chemical  condi- 
tions conducive  to  the  production  of  magnesian  lime- 
stones and  gypsum  are  not  favourable  to  animal  life, 
though  no  doubt  compatible  with  its  existence.  Hence 
the  rich  fauna  of  the  Carboniferous  seas  died  out  in  the 
Permian,  and  was  not  renewed;  and  the  Atlantic  areas 
of  the  period  are  unknown  to  us.  They  were,  how- 
ever, probably  very  deep  and  abrupt  in  slope,  and  not 
rich  in  life.  This  would  be  especially  the  case  if  they 
were  desolated  by  cold  ice-laden  currents. 

During  the  Permian  period  there  was  in  each  of 
our  continental  areas  a  somewhat  extensive  inland  sea. 
That  of  Western  America  was  a  northward  extension 
of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  That  of  Eastern  Europe 
was  a  northward  extension  of  the  Euxine  and  Caspian. 
In  both,  the  deposits  formed  were  very  similar — mag- 
nesian limestones,  sandstones,  conglomerates,  marls, 
and  gypsums.  In  both,  these  alternate  in  such  a  way 
as  to  show  that  there  were  frequent  oscillations  of 
level,  producing  alternately  shallow  and  deep  waters. 
In  both,  the  animal  remains  are  of  similar  species,  in 
many  instances  even  identical.  But  in  the  areas  inter- 
vening between  these  sea  basins  and  the  Atlantic  the 
conditions  were  somewhat  different.  In  Europe  the 
land  was  interrupted  by  considerable  water  areas,  not 
lakes,  but  inland  sea  basins ;  sometimes  probably  con- 
nected with  the  open  sea,  sometimes  isolated.  In  these 
were,  deposited  the  magnesian  limestone  and  its 
associated  beds  in  England,  and  the  Zechstein  and 
Kotheliege.nde  with  their  associates  in  Germany.  ID 


PERMIAN   AGE   AND   CLOSE   OF   THE    PALEOZOIC.      171 

America  the  case  was  different.  In  all  that  immense 
area  which  extends -from  the  Atlantic  to  the  plains 
east  of  the  Mississippi,  we  know  no  Permian  rocks, 
unless  a  portion  of  those  reckoned  as  Upper  Carboni- 
ferous, or  Permo- carboniferous  in  Northern  Nova 
Scotia,  and  Prince  Edward  Island,  should  be  included 
in  this  group.  If  such  existed,  they  may  possibly  be 
covered  up  in  some  places  by  more  modern  deposits, 
or  may  have  been  swept  away  by  denudation  in  the 
intervening  ages  ;  but  even  in  these  cases  we  should 
expect  to  find  some  visible  remains  of  them.  Their 
entire  absence  would  seem  to  indicate  that  a  vast,  and 
in  many  parts  rugged  and  elevated,  continent  repre- 
sented North  America  in  the  Permian  period.  Yet  if 
so,  that  great  continent  is  an  absolute  blank  to  us. 
We  know  nothing  of  the  animals  or  plants  which  may 
have  lived  on  it,  nor  do  we  even  know  with  certainty 
that  it  had  active  volcanoes,  or  snow-clad  mountains 
sending  down  glaciers. 

Our  picture  of  the  Permian  World  has  not  been 
inviting,  yet  in  many  respects  it  was  a  world  more  like 
that  in  which  we  live  than  was  any  previous  one.  It 
certainly  presented  more  of  variety  and  grand  physical 
features  than  any  of  the  previous  ages ;  and  we  might 
have  expected  that  on  its  wide  and  varied  continents 
some  new  and  higher  forms  of  life  would  have  been 
introduced.  But  it  seems  rather  to  have  been  intended 
to  blot  out  the  old  Palasozoic  life,  as  an  arrangement 
which  had  been  fully  tried  and  served  its  end,  prepara- 
tory to  a  new  beginning  in  the  succeeding  age. 


172       THE  STORY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

Still  the  Permian  has  some  life  features  of  its  own, 
and  we  must  now  turn  to  these.  The  first  is  the  oc- 
currence here,  not  only  of  the  representatives  of  the 
great  Batrachians  of  the  coal  period,,  but  of  true  rep- 
tiles, acknowledged  to  be  such  by  all  naturalists.  The 
animals  of  the  genus  Protorosaurus ,  found  in  rocks  of 
this  age  both  in  England  and  Germany,  were  highly- 
organised  lizards,  having  socketed  teeth  like  those  of 
crocodiles,  and  well-developed  limbs,  with  long  tails, 
perhaps  adapted  for  swimming.  They  have,  however, 
biconcave  vertebras  like  the  lizard-like  animals  of  the 
coal  already  mentioned,  which,  indeed,  in  their  general 
form  and  appearance,  they  must  have  very  closely 
resembled.  The  Protorosaurs  were  not  of  great  size ; 
but  they  must  have  been  creatures  of  more  stately  gait 
than  their  Carboniferous  predecessors,  and  they  serve 
to  connect  them  with  the  new  and  greater  reptiles  of 
the  next  period. 

Another  interesting  feature  of  the  Permian  is  its 
flora,  which,  in  so  far  as  known,  is  closely  related  to 
that  of  the  coal  period,  though  the  species  are  regarded 
as  different;  some  of  the  forms,  however,  being  so 
similar  as  to  be  possibly  identical.  In  a  picture  of  the 
Permian  flora  we  should  perhaps  place  in  the  fore- 
ground the  tree-ferns,  which  seem  to  have  been  very 
abundant,  and  furnished  with  dense  clusters  of  aerial 
roots  to  enable  them  to  withstand  the  storms  of  this 
boisterous  age.  The  tree-ferns,  now  so  plentiful  in  the 
southern  hemisphere,  should  be  regarded  as  one  of  the 
permanent  vegetable  institutions  of  our  world — those 


PERMIAN    AGE   AND   CLOSE    OP   THE    PALEOZOIC.       173 

of  the  far-back  Lower  Devonian,  and  of  all  intervening 
ages  up  to  the  present  day,  having  been  very  much 
alike.  The  great  reed-like  Calamites  have  had  a  dif- 
ferent fate.  In  their  grander  forms  they  make  their 
last  appearance  in  the  Permian,  where  they  culminate 
in  great  ribbed  stems,  sometimes  nearly  a  foot  in 
diameter,  and  probably  of  immense  height.  The  brakes 
of  these  huge  mares'  -tails  which  overspread  the  lower 
levels  of  the  Permian  in  Europe,  would  have  been  to 
us  what  the  hayfields  of  Brobdingnag  were  to  Gulliver. 
The  Lepidodendra  also  swarmed,  though  in  diminished 
force;  but  the  great  Sigillarise  of  the  coal  are  absent, 
or  only  doubtfully  present.  Another  feature  of  the 
Permiun  woods  was  the  presence  of  many  pine-trees 
different  in  aspect  from  those  of  the  coal  period.  Some 
of  these  are  remarkable  for  their  slender  and  delicate 
branches  and  foliage.*  Others  have  more  dense  and 
scaly  leaves,  and  thick  short  cones. f  Both  of  these 
styles  of  pines  are  regarded  as  distinct,  on  the  one 
hand,  from  those  of  the  coal  formation,  and  on  the 
other  from  those  of  the  succeeding  Trias.  I  have 
shown,  however,  many  years  ago,  that  in  the  upper 
coal  formation  of  America  there  are  branches  of  pine- 
trees  very  similar  to  Walchia,  and,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  Permian  pines  are  not  very  remote  in  form  and 
structure  from  some  of  their  modern  relations.  The 
pines  of  the  first  of  the  above-mentioned  types 
(Walchia)  may  indeed  be  regarded  as  allies  of  the 
modern  Araucarian  pines  of  the  southern  hemisphere, 
*  Walchia.  f  Ulmannia. 


174       THE  STOEY  OF  THE  EAETH  AND  MAN. 

and  of  the  old  conifers  of  the  Carboniferous.  Those  of 
the  second  type  (Ulmannia)  may  be  referred  to  the 
same  group  with  the  magnificent  Sequoias  or  Bed- 
woods  of  California. 

It  is  a  curious  indication  of  the  doubts  which  some- 
times rest  on  fossil  botany,  that  some  of  the  branches 
of  these  Permian  pines,  when  imperfectly  preserved, 
have  been  described  as  sea-weeds,  while  others  have 
been  regarded  as  club-mosses.  It  is  true,  however, 
that  the  resemblance  of  some  of  them  to  the  latter 
class  of  plants  is  very  great ;  and  were  there  no  older 
pines,  we  might  be  pardoned  for  imagining  in  the  Per- 
mian a  transition  from  club-mosses  to  pines.  Un- 
fortunately, however,  we  have  pines  nearly  as  far  back 
in  geological  time  as  we  have  club-mosses ;  and,  in  so 
far  as  we  know,  no  more  like  the  latter  than  are  the 
pines  of  the  Permian,  so  that  this  connection  fails  us. 
In  all  probability  the  Permian  forests  are  much  less 
perfectly  known  to  us  than  those  of  the  coal  period,  se 
that  we  can  scarcely  make  comparisons.  It  appears 
certain,  however,  that  the  Permian  plants  are  much 
more  closely  related  to  the  coal  plants  than  to  those  of 
the  next  succeeding  epoch,  and  that  they  are  not  so 
much  a  transition  from  the  one  to  the  other  as  the 
finishing  of  the  older  period  to  make  way  for  the  newer. 

But  we  must  reserve  some  space  for  a  few  remarks 
on  the  progress  and  termination  of  the  Palaeozoic  as 
a  whole,  and  on  the  place  which  it  occupies  in  the 
world's  history.  These  remarks  we  may  group  around 
the  central  question,  Whan  is  the  meaning  or  value  of 


PERMIAN   AGE   AND   CLOSE   OP   THE    PALEOZOIC.       175 

an  age  or  period  in  the  history  of  the  earth,  as  these 
terms  are  understood  by  geologists  ?  In  most  geolo- 
gical books  terms  referring  to  time  are  employed  very 
loosely.  Period,  epoch,  age,  system,  series,  formation, 
and  similar  terms,  are  used  or  abused  in  a  manner 
which  only  the  indefiniteness  of  our  conceptions  can 
excuse. 

A  great  American  geologist*  has  made  an  attempt 
to  remedy  this  by  attaching  definite  values  to  such 
words  as  those  above  mentioned.  In  his  system  the 
greater  divisions  of  the  history  were  ' '  Times : "  thus 
the  Eozoic  was  a  time  and  the  Palseozoic  was  a  time. 
The  larger  divisions  of  the  times  are  "Ages:"  thus 
the  Lower  and  Upper  Silurian,  the  Devonian,  and 
the  Carboniferous  are  ages,  which  are  equivalent  in 
the  main  to  what  English  geologists  call  Systems  of 
Formations.  Ages,  again,  may  be  divided  into 
"  Periods:"  thus,  in  the  Upper  Silurian,  the  Ludlow 
of  England,  or  Lower  Helderberg  of  America,  would 
constitute  a  period.  These  periods  may  again  be 
divided  into  "  Epochs,"  which  are  equivalent  to  what 
English  geologists  call  Formations,  a  term  referring 
not  directly  to  the  time  elapsed,  but  to  the  work  done 
in  it.  Now  this  mode  of  regarding  geological  time 
introduces  many  thoughts  as  to  the  nature  of  our 
chronology  and  matters  relating  to  it.  A  "  time  "  in 
geology  is  an  extremely  long  time,  and  the  Palaeozoic 
was  perhaps  the  longest  of  the  whole.  By  the  close 
of  the  Palaeozoic  nine-tenths  of  all  the  rocks  we  knonf 
*  Dana. 


176       THE  STORY  OP  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

in  the  earth's  crust  were  formed.  At  least  this  is  the 
case  if  we  reckon  mere  thickness.  For  aught  that 
we  know,  the  Eozoic  time  may  have  accumulated  as 
much  rock  as  the  Palaeozoic;  but  leaving  this  out  of 
the  question,  the  rocks  of  the  Palaeozoic  are  vastly 
thicker  than  those  of  the  Mesozoic  and  Cainozoic 
united.  Thus  the  earth's  history  seems  to  have 
dragged  slowly  in  its  earlier  stages,  or  to  have 
become  accelerated  in  its  latter  times.  To  place  it 
in  another  point  of  view,  life  changes  were  greater 
relatively  to  merely  physical  changes  in  the  later 
than  in  the  earlier  times. 

The  same  law  seems  to  have  obtained  within  the 
Palaeozoic  time  itself.  Its  older  periods,  as  the 
Cambrian  and  Lower  Silurian,  present  immense 
thicknesses  of  rock  with  little  changes  in  life.  Its 
later  periods,  the  Carboniferous  and  Permian,  have 
greater  life -re  volution  relatively  to  less  thickness  of 
deposits.  This  again  was  evidently  related  to  the 
growing  complexity  and  variety  of  geographical  con- 
ditions, which  went  on  increasing  all  the  way  up  to 
the  Permian,  when  they  attained  their  maximum  for 
the  Palaeozoic  time. 

Again,  each  age  was  signalized,  over  the  two  great 
continental  plateaus,  by  a  like  series  of  elevations  and 
depressions.  We  may  regard  the  Siluro-Cambrian, 
the  Silurian,  the  Devonian,  the  Carboniferous,  and  Per- 
mian, as  each  of  them  a  distinct  age.  Each  of  these 
began  with  physical  disturbances  and  coarse  shallow- 
water  deposits.  In  each  this  was  succeeded  by  sub- 


PEEMIAN   AGE    AND    CLOSE    OF    THE    PALEOZOIC.       177 

side  ace  and  by  a  sea  area  tenanted  by  corals  and 
shell-fishes.  In  each  case  this  was  followed  by  a 
re-elevation,  leading  to  a  second  but  slow  and  partial 
subsidence,  to  be  followed  by  the  great  re-elevation 
preparatory  to  the  next  period.  Thus  we  have 
throughout  the  Palasozoic  a  series  of  cycles  of 
physical  change  which  we  may  liken  to  gigantic 
pulsations  of  the  thick  hide  of  mother  earth.  The 
final  catastrophe  of  the  Permian  collapse  was  quite 
different  in  kind  from  these  pulsations  as  well  as 
much  greater  in  degree.  The  Cambrian  or  Prim- 
ordial does  not  apparently  present  a  perfect  cycle 
of  this  kind,  perhaps  because  in  that  early  period 
the  continental  plateaus  were  not  yet  definitely 
formed,  and  thus  its  beds  are  rather  portions  of  the 
general  oceanic  deposit.  In  this  respect  it  is  analo- 
gous in  geological  relations  to  the  chalk  formation 
of  a  later  age,  though  very  different  in  material. 
The  Cambrian  may,  however,  yet  vindicate  its  claim 
to  be  regarded  as  a  definite  cycle  j  and  the  recent 
discoveries  of  Hicks  in  North  Wales,  have  proved 
the  existence  of  a  rich  marine  fauna  far  down  in  the 
lower  part  of  this  system.  It  is  also  to  be  observed 
that  the  peculiar  character  of  the  Cambrian,  as  an 
oceanic  bottom  rather  than  a  continental  plateau, 
has  formed  an  important  element  in  the  difficulties 
in  establishing  it  as  a  distinct  group ;  just  as  a 
similar  difficulty  in  the  case  of  the  chalk  has  led 
to  a  recent  controversy  about  the  continuance  of  the 
condition^  of  that  period  into  modern  times. 

9 


178      THE  STORY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

But  in  each  of  the  great  successive  heaves  or  pul- 
sations of  the  Palaeozoic  earth,  there  was  a  growing 
balance  in  favour  of  the  land  as  compared  with  the 
water.  In  each  successive  movement  more  and  more 
elevated  land  was  thrown  up,  until  the  Permian  flexures 
finally  fixed  the  forms  of  our  continents.  This  may  be 
made  evident  to  the  eye  in  a  series  of  curves,  as  in  the 
following  diagram,  in  which  I  have  endeavoured  to 
show  the  recurrence  of  similar  conditions  in  each  of 
the  great  periods  of  the  Palaeozoic,  and  thus  their 
equivalency  to  each  other  as  cycles  of  the  earth's 
history. 

There  is  thus  in  these  great  continental  changes  a 
law  of  recurrence  and  a  law  of  progress ;  but  as  to  the 
efficient  causes  of  the  phenomena  we  have  as  yet  little 
information.  It  seems  that  original  fractures  and 
shrinkages  of  the  crust  were  concerned  in  forming  the 
continental  areas  at  first.  Once  formed,  unequal 
burdening  of  the  earth's  still  plastic  mass  by  deposits 
of  sediment  in  the  waters,  and  unequal  expansion  by 
the  heating  and  crystallization  of  immense  thicknesses 
of  tli e  sediment,  may  have  done  the  rest;  but  the  re- 
sults are  surprisingly  regular  to  be  produced  by  such 
causes.  We  shall  also  find  that  similar  cycles  can  be 
observed  in  the  geological  ages  which  succeeded  the 
Palaeozoic.  Geologists  have  hitherto  for  the  most  part 
been  content  to  assign  these  movements  to  causes 
purely  terrestrial ;  but  it  is  difficult  to  avoid  the  sus- 
picion that  the  succession  of  geological  cycles  must 
have  depended  on  some  recurring  astronomical  force 


Potsdam, 


Trenton. 


Hudson  River. 
Oneida. 
[..  Niagara. 


I 

g 


L.  Helderberg, 
Oriskany. 

Corniferous. 


I,  Chemung. 


Garb.  Conglomerata. 

(•Carboniferous 
(.Limestone. 


Coal  Formation. 
Permian  Conglomerata. 

Magnesian  Limestone. 


180       THE  STORY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

tending  to  cause  the  weaker  parts  of  the  earth's  crnsi 
alternately  to  rise  and  subside  at  regular  intervals  of 
time.  Herschel,  Adhemar,  and  more  recently  Croll, 
have  directed  attention  to  astronomical  cycles  supposed 
to  have  important  influences  on  the  temperature  of  the 
earth.  Whether  these  or  other  changes  may  have 
acted  on  the  equilibrium  of  its  crust  is  a  question  well 
worthy  of  attention,  as  its  solution  might  give  us  an 
astronomical  measure  of  geological  time.  This  question , 
however,  the  geologist  must  refer  to  the  astronomer. 

There  are  two  notes  of  caution  which  must  here  be 
given  to  the  reader.  First,  it  is  not  intended  to  apply 
the  doctrine  of  continental  oscillations  to  the  great 
oceanic  areas.  Whether  they  became  shallower  or 
deeper,  their  conditions  would  be  different  from  those 
which  occurred  in  the  great  shallow  plateaus,  and  these 
conditions  are  little  known  to  us.  Further,  throughout 
the  Palaeozoic  period,  the  oscillations  do  not  seem  to 
have  been  sufficient  to  reverse  the  positions  of  the 
oceans  and  continents.  Secondly,  it  is  not  meant  to 
affirm  that  the  great  Permian  plications  were  so  wide- 
spread in  their  effects  as  to  produce  a  universal  de- 
struction of  life.  On  the  contrary,  after  they  had 
occurred,  remnants  of  the  Carboniferous  fauna  still 
flourished  even  on  the  surfaces  of  the  continents,  and 
possibly  the  inhabitants  of  the  deep  ocean  were  little 
affected  by  these  great  movements.  True  it  is  that  the 
life  of  the  Palaeozoic  terminates  with  the  Permian,  but 
not  by  a  great  and  cataclysmic  overthrow. 

Wo  know  something  at  least  of  the  general  laws  of 


PERMIAN    AGE    AND   CLOSE    OP    THE    PALEOZOIC.       181 

continental  oscillations  during  the  Palaeozoic.  Do  we 
know  anything  of  law  in  the  case  of  life  ?  The  question 
raises  so  many  and  diverse  considerations  that  it  seems 
vain  to  treat  it  in  the  end  of  a  chapter ;  still  we  must 
try  to  outline  it  with  at  least  a  few  touches. 

First,  then,  the  Kfe  of  the  Palaeozoic  was  remarkable, 
as  compared  with  that  of  the  present  world,  in  pre- 
senting a  great  prevalence  of  animals  and  plants  of 
synthetic  types,  as  they  are  called  by  Agassiz— that  is, 
of  creatures  comprehending  in  one  the  properties  of 
several  groups  which  were  to  exist  as  distinct  in  the 
future.  Such  types  are  also  sometimes  called  em- 
bryonic, because  the  young  of  animals  and  plants  often 
show  these  comprehensive  features.  Such  types  were 
the  old  corals,  presenting  points  of  alliance  with  two 
distinct  groups  now  widely  separated;  the  old  Trilo- 
bites,  half  king-crabs  and  half  Isopods ;  the  Amphibians 
of  the  coal,  part  fish,  part  newt,  and  part  crocodile ;  the 
Sigillariaa,  part  club-mosses  and  part  pines ;  the  Ortho- 
ceratites,  half  nautili  and  half  cuttle-fishes.  I  proposed, 
in  the  illustration  in  a  former  article,  to  give  a  restora- 
tion of  one  of  the  curious  creatures  last  mentioned,  the 
Orthoceratites ;  but  on  attempting  this,  with  the  idea 
that,  as  usually  supposed,  they  were  straight  Nautili, 
it  appeared  that  the  narrow  aperture,  the  small  outer 
chamber,  the  thin  outer  wall,  often  apparently  only  mem- 
branous, and  the  large  siphuncle,  would  scarcely  admit 
of  this ;  and  I  finished  by  representing  it  as  something 
like  a  modern  squid ;  perhaps  wrongly,  but  it  was 
evidently  somewhere  between  them  and  the  Nautili. 


182      THE  STOEY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAS'. 

Secondly,  these  synthetic  types  often  belonged  to 
the  upper  part  of  a  lower  group,  or  to  the  lower  part 
of  an  upper  group.  Hence  in  one  point  of  view  they 
may  be  regarded  as  of  high  grade,  in  another  as  of  low 
grade,  and  they  are  often  large  in  size  or  in  vegetative 
development.*  From  this  law  have  arisen  many  con- 
troversies about  the  grade  and  classification  of  the 
Palaeozoic  animals  and  plants. 

Thirdly,  extinctions  of  species  occur  in  .every  great 
oscillation  of  the  continental  areas,  but  some  species 
reappear  after  such  oscillations,  and  the  same  genus 
often  recurs  under  new  specific  forms.  Families  and 
orders,  such  as  those  of  the  Trilobites  and  Orthocera- 
tites,  appear  to  have  a  grand  and  gradual  culmination 
and  decadence  extending  over  several  successive 
periods,  or  even  over  the  whole  stretch  of  the  Palaeo- 
zoic time.  Toward  the  close  of  the  Palaeozoic,  while 
all  the  species  disappear,  some  whole  families  and 
orders  are  altogether  dropped,  and,  being  chiefly 
synthetic  groups,  are  replaced  by  more  specialised 
types,  some  of  which,  however,  make  small  beginnings 
alongside  of  the  more  general  types  which  are  passing 
away.  Our  diagram  (page  183)  illustrates  these  points. 

Fourthly,  the  progress  in  animal  life  in  the  Palaeozoic 
related  chiefly  to  the  lower  or  invertebrate  tribes,  and 

*  It  seems,  indeed,  as  if  the  new  synthetic  forms  intermediate 
between  great  groups  were  often  large  in  size,  while  the  new 
special  types  came  Ji  as  small  species.  There  are  some  remark- 
able cases  of  this  in  the  plant  world ;  though  here  we  have  such 
examples  as  the  pines  and  tree-ferns  continuing  almost  un- 
changed from  an  early  Palaeozoic  period  until  now. 


184      THE  STOKY  OP  THE  EAETH  AND  MAN. 

to  the  two  lower  classes  of  the  vertebrates.  The  oldest 
animal  known  to  us  is  not  only  a  creature  of  the 
simplest  structure,  but  also  a  representative  of  thai 
great  and  on  the  whole  low  type  of  animal  life,  in  which 
the  parts  are  arranged  around  a  central  axis,  and  not 
on  that  plan  of  bilateral  symmetry  which  constitutes 
one  great  leading  distinction  of  the  higher  animals. 
With  the  Cambrian,  bilateral  animals  abound  and  be- 
long to  two  very  distinct  lines  of  progress — the  one, 
the  Mollusks,  showing  the  nutritive  organs  more  fully 
developed — the  other,  the  Articulates,  having  the 
organs  of  sense  and  of  locomotion  more  fully  organized. 
These  three  great  types  shared  the  world  among  them 
throughout  the  earlier  Palaeozoic  time,  and  only  in  its 
later  ages  began  to  be  dominated  by  the  higher  types 
of  fishes  and  reptiles.  In  so  far  as  we  know,  it  re- 
mained for  the  Mesozoic  to  introduce  the  birds  and 
mammals.  In  plant  life  the  changes  were  less  marked, 
though  here  also  there  is  progress — land  plants  appear 
to  begin,  not  with  the  lowest  forms,  but  with  the  highest 
types  of  the  lower  of  the  two  great  series  into  which 
the  vegetable  kingdom  is  divided.  From  this  they 
rapidly  rise  to  a  full  development  of  the  lowest  type  of 
the  flowering  plants,  the  pines  and  their  allies,  and 
there  the  progress  ceases ;  for  the  known  representatives 
of  the  higher  plants  are  extremely  few  and  apparently 
of  little  importance. 

Fifthly,  in  general  the  history  tells  of  a  continued 
series  of  alternate  victories  and  defeats  of  the  species 
that  had  their  birth  on  the  land  and  in  the  shallot 


FEKMUN   AGE    AND   CLOSE    OP   THE    PALEOZOIC.       185 

waters,  and  those  wliica  were  born  in  the  ocean  depths, 
The  former  spread  themselves  widely  after  every  up- 
heaval, and  then  by  every  subsidence  were  driven  back 
to  their  mountain  fastnesses.  The  latter  perished  from 
the  continental  plateaus  at  every  upheaval,  but  climbed 
again  in  new  hordes  and  reoccupied  the  ground  after 
every  subsidence.  But  just  as  in  human  history  every 
victory  or  defeat  urges  on  the  progress  of  events,  and 
develops  the  great  plan  of  God's  providence  in  the 
elevation  of  man;  so  here  every  succeeding  change 
brings  in  new  and  higher  actors  on  the  stage,  and  the 
scheme  of  creation  moves  on  in  a  grand  and  steady 
progress  towards  the  more  varied  and  elevated  life  of 
the  Modern  World, 

But,  after  all,  how  little  do  we  know  of  these  laws, 
which  are  only  beginning  to  dawn  on  the  minds  of 
naturalists ;  and  which  the  imperfections  of  our  classi- 
fication and  nomenclature,  and  the  defects  in  our  know- 
ledge of  fossil  species,  render  very  dim  and  uncertain. 
All  that  appears  settled  is  the  existence  of  a  definite 
plan,  working  over  long  ages,  and  connected  with  the 
most  remarkable  correlation  of  physical  and  organic 
change  :  going  on  with  regular  march  throughout  the 
Palaeozoic,  and  then  brought  to  a  close  to  make  room 
for  another  great  succession.  This  following  Mesozoic 
time  must  next  engage  our  attention. 

We  may  close  for  the  present  with  presenting  to 
the  eye  in  tabular  form  the  periods  over  which  we 
have  passed.  The  table  on  page  187,  and  the 
diagram  (page  179),  mutually  illustrate  each  other; 

9* 


186      THE  STOEY  01'  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

and  it  will  be  seen  that  each  age  constitutes  » 
cycle,  similar  in  its  leading  features  to  the  other 
cycles,  while  each  is  distinguished  by  some  important 
fact  in  relation  to  the  introduction  of  living  beings. 
In  this  table  I  have,  with  Mr.  Hull,*  for  simplicity, 
arranged  the  formations  of  each  age  under  three 
periods — an  older,  middle,  and  newer.  Of  these, 
however,  the  last  or  newest  is  in  each  case  so  im- 
portant and  varied  as  to  merit  division  into  two,  in 
the  manner  which  I  have  suggested  in  previous  pub- 
lications for  the  Palaeozoic  rocks  of  North  America.f 
Under  each  period  I  have  endeavoured  to  give  some 
characteristic  example  from  Europe  and  America, 
except  where,  as  in  the  case  of  the  coal  formation, 
the  same  names  are  used  on  both  continents.  Such 
a  table  as  this,  it  must  be  observed,  is  only  tentative, 
and  may  admit  of  important  modifications.  Tho 
Laurentian  more  especially  may  admit  of  division 
into  several  ages;  and  a  separate  age  may  be  found 
to  intervene  between  it  and  the  Cambrian.  The 
reader  will  please  observe  that  this  table  refers  to 
the  changes  on  the  continental  plateaus;  and  that 
on  both  of  these  each  age  was  introduced  with  shallow 
water  and  usually  coarse  deposits,  succeeded  by 
deeper  water  and  finer  beds,  usually  limestones,  and 
these  by  a  mixed  formation  returning  to  the  shallow 
water  and  coarse  deposits  of  the  older  period  of  the 
age.  This  last  kind  of  deposition  culminates  in  the 
great  swamps  of  the  coal  formation. 

*  "  Quarterly  Journal  of  Science,'*  July,  1869. 
f  "  Acadian  Geology,"  p.  137. 


PERMIAN   AGE    AND   CLOSE    OF   THE    PALEOZOIC.      187 


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CHAPTER     VIII. 

THE   MESOZOIC   AGES. 

PHYSICALLY,  the  transition  from  the  Permian  to  the 
Trias  is  easy.  In  the  domain  of  life  a  great  gulf  lies 
between ;  and  the  geologist  whose  mind  is  filled  with 
the  forms  of  the  Palaeozoic  period,  on  rising  into 
the  next  succeeding  beds,  feels  himself  a  sort  of 
Rip  Van  Winkle,  who  has  slept  a  hundred  years  and 
awakes  in  a  new  world.  The  geography  of  our 
continents  seems  indeed  to  have  changed  little  from 
the  time  of  the  Permian  to  that  next  succeeding 
group  which  all  geologists  recognise  as  the  beginning 
of  the  Mesozoic  or  Middle  Age  of  the  world's  history, 
the  Triassic  period.  Where  best  developed,  as  in 
Germany,  it  gives  us  the  usual  threefold  series,  con- 
glomerates and  sandstones  below,  a  shelly  limestone 
in  the  middle,  and  sandstones  and  marls  above. 
Curiously  enough,  the  Germans,  recognising  this 
tripartite  character  here  more  distinctly  than  in  their 
other  formations,  named  this  the  Trias  or  triple  group, 
a  name  which  it  still  retains,  though  as  we  have 
seen  it  is  by  no  means  the  earliest  of  the  triple  groups 
of  strata.  In  England,  where  the  middle  limestone 
is  absent,  it  is  a  €t  New  Red  Sandstone,"  and  the 
same  name  may  be  appropriately  extended  to  Eastern 
America,  where  bright  red  sandstones  are  a  charac- 


THE    MESOZOIC   AGES. 


18S 


teristic  feature.  In  the  Trias,  as  in  the  Permian, 
the  continents  of  the  northern  hemisphere  presented 
large  land  areas,  and  there  were  lagoons  and  land- 
locked seas  in  which  gypsum,  magnesian  limestones, 
and  rock  salt  were  thrown  down,  a  very  eminent 
example  of  which  is  afforded  by  the  great  salt  deposits 
of  Cheshire.  There  were  also  tremendous  outbursts 
of  igneous  activity  along  the  margins  of  the  con- 
tinents, more  especially  in  Eastern  America.  But  with 
all  this  there  was  a  rich  land  flora  and  a  wonderful 
exuberance  of  new  animal  life  on  the  land;  and  in 
places  there  were  even  swamps  in  which  pure  and 
valuable  beds  of  coal,  comparable  with  those  of  the 
old  coal  formation,  were  deposited. 

The  triple  division  of  the  Trias  as  a  cycle  of  the 
earth's  history,  and  its  local  imperfection,  are  well 
seen  in  the  European  development  of  the  group, 
thus : — 


German  Series. 

French  Series. 

English  Series. 

Keuper,  Sandstone  and  ") 
Shale  ..,                  ,..  4 

Marnes  Irishes  

rSaliferous  and  gypse- 
3    ous  Shales  and  Sana 

Muschelkalk,       Lime-") 
stone  and  Dolomite  ) 

Bunter,  Sandstone  and  ") 
Conglomerate     ) 

Cafcaire  Coquillier 
Gre"s  bigarre  

(_  stones. 
Wanting. 

(  Sandstone    and    Con- 
(_     glomerate. 

The  Trias  is  succeeded  by  a  great  and  complex 
system  of  formations,  usually  known  as  the  Jurassic, 
from  its  admirable  development  and  exposure  in  the 


190      THE  STOEY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

range  of  the  Jura ;  but  which  the  English  geologists 
often  name  the  "  Oolitic,"  from  the  occurrence  in  it 
of  beds  of  Oolite  or  roe-stone.  This  rock,  of  which 
the  beautiful  cream-coloured  limestone  of  Bath  is  an 
illustration,  consists  of  an  infinity  of  little  spheres, 
like  seeds  or  the  roe  of  a  fish.  Under  the  microscope 
these  are  seen  to  present  concentric  layers,  each  with 
a  radiating  fibrous  :  structure,  and  often  to  have  a 
minute  grain  of  sand  or  fragment  of  shell  in  the 
centre.  They  are,  in  short,  miniature  concretions, 
produced  by  the  aggregation  of  the  calcareous  matter 
around  centres,  by  a  process  of  molecular  attraction 
to  which  fine  sediments,  and  especially  those  con- 
taining much  lime,  are  very  prone.  This  style  of 
limestone  is  very  abundant  in  the  Jurassic  system, 
but  it  is  not  confined  to  it.  I  have  seen  very  perfect 
Oolites  in  the  Silurian  and  the  Carboniferous.  The 
Jurassic  series,  as  developed  in  England,  may  be 
divided  into  three  triplets  or  cycles  of  beds,  in  the 
following  way  : — 

fPurbeck  Beds. 

Upper  Jurassic   -j  Portland  Limestone. 

(Portland  Sand. 

( Kimmeridge  Clay,  etc. 

Middle  Jurassic \  Coral  Rag,  Limestone. 

(Lower  Calcareous  Grit,  Oxford  Clay,  etc. 

( Cornbrash  and  Forest  Marble. 

Lower  Jurassic*      ...  4  Great  and  inferior  Oolite,  Limestone. 
(Lias  Clays  and  Limestones. 

These  rocks  occupy  a  large   space  in  England,  as 

*  This  last  group  is  very  complex,  and  might  perhaps  admit  of  sub 
division,  locally  at  least,  into  subordinate  cycles. 


THE    MESOZOIO   AGES.  191 

the  names  above  given  will  serve  to  show;  and  they 
are  also  largely  distributed  over  the  continent  of 
Europe  and  Asia — which  had  evidently  three  great 
and  long-continued  dips  under  water,  indicated  by 
the  three  great  limestones.  In  America  the  case 
was  different.  The  Jurassic  has  not  been  distinctly 
recognised  in  any  part  of  the  eastern  coast  of  that 
continent,  which  then  perhaps  extended  farther  into 
the  Atlantic  than  it  does  at  present ;  so  that  no 
marine  beds  were  formed  on  its  eastern  border.  But 
in  the  west,  along  the  base  of  the  Eocky  Mountains 
and  also  in  the  Arctic  area,  there  were  Jurassic  seas 
of  large  extent,  sw.arming  with  characteristic  animals. 
At  the  close  of  the  Jurassic  period  our  continents 
seem  to  have  been  even  more  extensive  than  at  pre- 
sent. In  England  and  the  neighbouring  parts  of 
the  continent  of  Europe,  according  to  Lyell,  the 
freshwater  and  estuarine  beds  known  as  the  Wealden 
have  been  traced  320  miles  from  west  to  east,  and 
200  miles  from  north-west  to  south-east,  and  their 
thickness  in  one  part  of  this  area  is  estimated  at  no 
less  than  2,000  feet.  Such  a  deposit  is  comparable 
in  extent  with  the  deltas  of  such  great  rivers  as  the 
Niger  or  even  the  Mississippi,  and  implies  the  exist- 
ence of  a  continent  much  more  extensive  and  more 
uniform  in  drainage  than  Europe  as  it  at  present 
exists.  Lyell  even  speculates  on  the  possible  exist- 
ence of  an  Atlantic  continent  west  of  Europe. 
America  also  at  this  time  had,  as  already  stated, 
attained  to  even  more  than  its  present  extension 


192      THE  STOEY  OP  THE  EAETH  AND  MAN. 

eastwards.  Thus  this  later  Juiassic  period  was  the 
culmination  of  the  Mesozoic,  the  period  of  its  most 
perfect  continental  development,  corresponding  in  this 
to  the  Carboniferous  in  the  Palaeozoic. 

The  next  or  closing  period  of  this  great  Mesozoic 
time  brought  a  wondrous  change.  In  the  Cretaceous 
period,  so  called  from  the  vast  deposits  of  chalk  by 
which  it  is  characterized,  the  continents  sunk  as  they 
had  never  sunk  before,  so  that  vast  spaces  of  the  great 
continental  plateaus  were  brought  down,  for  the  first 
time  since  the  Laurentian,  to  the  condition  of  abyssal 
depths,  tenanted  by  such  creatures  as  live  in  the 
deepest  recesses  of  our  modern  oceans.  This  great 
depression  affected  Europe  more  severely  than  Ame- 
rica; the  depression  of  the  latter  being  not  only  less, 
but  somewhat  later  in  date.  In  Europe,  at  the  period 
of  greatest  submergence,  the  hills  of  Scandinavia  and 
of  Britain,  and  the  Urals,  perhaps  alone  stood  out  of 
the  sea.  The  Alps  and  their  related  mountains,  and 
even  the  Himalayas,  were  not  yet  born,  for  they  have 
on  their  high  summits  deep-sea  beds  of  the  Cretaceous 
and  even  of  later  date.  In  America,  the  Appalachians 
and  the  old  Laurentian  ranges  remained  above  water ; 
but  the  Eocky  Mountains  and  the  Andes  were  in 
great  part  submerged,  and  a  great  Cretaceous  sea 
extended  from  the  Appalachians  westward  to  the 
Pacific,  and  southward  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  opening 
probably  to  the  North  into  the  Arctic  Ocean. 

This  great  depression  must  have  been  of  very  long 
continuance,  since  in  Western  Europe  it  sufficed  for 


THE    MESOZOIC   AGES.  193 

the  production  of  nearly  1,000  feet  in  thickness  of 
chalk,  a  rock  which,  being  composed  almost  entirely 
of  microscopic  shells,  is,  as  we  shall  see  in  the  sequel, 
necessarily  of  extremely  slow  growth.  If  we  regard 
the  Cretaceous  group  as  one  of  our  great  ages  or 
cycles,  it  seems  to  be  incomplete.  The  sandstones 
and  clays  known  as  the  Greensand  and  Gault  con- 
stitute its  lower  or  shallow-water  member.  The  chalk 
is  its  middle  or  deep-sea  member,  but  the  upper 
shallow-water  member  is  missing,  or  only  very  locally 
and  imperfectly  developed.  And  the  oldest  of  the 
succeeding  Tertiary  deposits,  which  indicate  much 
less  continuous  marine  conditions,  rest  on  the  chalk, 
as  if  the  great  and  deep  sea  of  the  Cretaceous  age 
had  been  suddenly  upheaved  into  land.  This  abrupt 
termination  of  the  last  cycle  of  the  Mesozoic  is  obvi- 
ously the  reason  of  the  otherwise  inexplicable  fact 
that  the  prevalent  life  of  the  period  ceases  at  the  top 
of  the  chalk,  and  is  exchanged  immediately  and  with- 
out any  transition  for  the  very  different  fauna  of  the 
Tertiary.  This  further  accords  with  the  fact  that  the 
Cretaceous  subsidence  ended  in  another  great  crum- 
pling of  the  crust,  like  that  which  distinguished  the 
Permian.  By  this  the  Mesozoic  time  was  terminated 
and  the  Cainozoic  inaugurated;  while  the  Eocky 
Mountains,  the  Andes,  the  Alps,  and  the  Himalayas, 
rose  to  importance  as  great  mountain  ranges,  and  the 
continents  were  again  braced  up  to  retain  a  condition 
of  comparative  equilibrium  during  that  later  period  of 
tte  earth's  chronology  to  which  we  ourselves  belong. 


THE    MESOZOIC   AGES.  193 

Was  the  length  of  the  Mesozoic  time  equal  to  that 
of  the  Palaeozoic  ?  Measured  by  recurring  cycles  it 
was.  In  the  latter  psriod  we  find  five  great  cycles, 
from  the  Lower  Silurian  to  the  Permian  inclusive. 
So  in  the  Mesozoic  we  have  five  also,  from  the  Triaa 
to  the  Cretaceous  inclusive.  We  have  a  right  to 
reckon  these  cycles  as  ages  or  great  years  of  the 
earth  \  and  so  reckoning  them,  the  Mesozoic  time  may 
have  been  as  long  as  the  Palaeozoic.  But  if  we  take 
another  criterion  the  result  will  be  different.  The 
thickness  of  the  deposits  in  the  Palaeozoic  as  com- 
pared with  the  Mesozoic,  where  these  are  severally 
best  developed,  may  be  estimated  as  at  least  four  or 
five  to  one;  so  that  if  we  suppose  the  beds  to  have 
been  formed  with  equal  rapidity  in  the  two  great 
periods,  then  the  older  of  the  two  was  between  four 
and  five  times  as  long  as  the  latter,  which  would 
indeed  be  only  a  little  greater  than  one  of  the  separate 
ages  of  the  Palaeozoic.  Either,  therefore,  the  deposits 
took  place  with  greater  rapidity  in  the  Palaeozoic,  or 
that  period  was  by  much  the  longer  of  the  two.  This 
it  will  be  observed,  is  only  another  aspect  of  the  great 
laws  of  geological  sequence  referred  to  in  our  last 
paper. 

Let  us  look  into  this  question  a  little  more  minutely. 
If  the  several  pulsations  of  our  continents  depended 
upon  any  regularly  recurring  astronomical  or  terres- 
trial change,  then  they  must  represent,  at  least 
approximately,  equal  portions  of  time,  and  this,  if 
proved,  would  settle  the  question  in  favour  of  an 


196      THE  STOEY  OP  THE  EAETH  AND  MAN. 

equal  duration  of  these  two  great  eras  of  the  earth'a 
history.  But  as  we  cannot  yet  prove  this,  we  may 
consider  what  light  we  can  derive  from  the  nature  of 
the  rocks  produced.  These  may  be  roughly  classified 
as  of  two  kinds:  First,,  the  beds  of  sediment,  sand, 
clay,  etc.,  accumulated  by  the  slow  chemical  decay  of 
rocks  and  the  mechanical  agency  of  water.  Secondly, 
the  beds  formed  by  accumulation  of  the  harder  and 
less  perishable  parts  of  living  beings,  of  which  the 
limestones  are  the  chief.  With  reference  to  the  first 
of  these  kinds  of  deposit,  the  action  of  the  atmosphere 
and  rains  on  rocks  in  the  earlier  times  might  have 
been  somewhat  more  powerful  if  there  was  more  car- 
bonic acid  in  the  atmosphere,  that  substance  being  the 
most  efficient  agent  in  the  chemical  decay  of  rocks. 
It  might  have  been  somewhat  more  powerful  if  there 
was  a  greater  rainfall.  It  must,  on  the  other  hand, 
have  been  lessened  by  the  apparently  more  equable 
temperature  which  then  prevailed.  These  differences 
might  perhaps  nearly  balance  one  another.  Then  the 
rocks  of  the  older  time  were  quite  as  intractable  as 
those  of  the  newer,  and  they  were  probably  neither  so 
high  nor  so  extensive.  Further,  the  dips  and  emer- 
gences of  the  great  continental  plateaus  were  equally 
numerous  in  the  two  great  periods,  though  they  were 
probably,  with  the  exception  of  the  latest  one  of  each, 
more  complete  in  the  older  period.  In  so  far,  then,  as 
deposition  of  sediment  is  concerned,  these  considera- 
tions would  scarcely  lead  us  to  infer  that  it  was  more 
rapid  in  the  Palaeozoic.  But  the  Palaeozoic  sediments 


THE    MESOZOIC   AGES.  197 

may  be  estimated  in  the  aggregate  at  about  50,000 
feet  in  thickness,  while  those  of  the  Mesozoic  scarcely 
reach  8,000.  We  might,  therefore,  infer  that  the 
Palaeozoic  period  was  perhaps  five  or  six  times  as  long 
as  the  Mesozoic. 

If  we  take  the  second  class  of  rocks,  the  limestones, 
and  suppose  these  to  have  been  accumulated  by  the 
slow  growth  of  corals,  shells,  etc.,  in  the  sea,  we 
might,  at  first  sight,  suppose  that  Palaeozoic  animals 
would  not  grow  or  accumulate  limestone  faster  than 
their  Mesozoic  successors.  "We  must,  however,  con- 
sider here  the  probability  that  the  older  oceans  con- 
tained  more  lime  in  solution  than  those  which  now 
exist,  and  that  the  equable  temperature  and  exten- 
sive submerged  plateaus  gave  very  favourable  con- 
ditions for  the  lower  animals  of  the  sea,  so  that  it 
would  perhaps  be  fair  to  allow  a  somewhat  more 
rapid  rate  of  growth  of  limestone  for  the  Palaeozoic. 
Now  the  actual  proportions  of  limestone  may  be 
roughly  stated  at  13,000  feet  in  the  Palaeozoic,  and 
3,000  feet  in  the  Mesozoic,  which  would  give  a  pro- 
portion of  about  four  and  a  quarter  to  one ;  and  as  a 
foot  of  limestone  may  be  supposed  on  the  average  to 
require  five  times  as  long  for  its  formation  as  a  foot 
of  sediment,  this  would  give  an  even  greater  abso- 
lute excess  in  favour  of  the  Palaeozoic  on  the  evidence 
of  the  limestones — an  excess  probably  far  too  great 
to  be  accounted  for  by  any  more  favourable  condi- 
tions for  the  secretion  of  carbonate  of  lime  by  marine 
animals. 


198      THE  STOEY  DP  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

The  data  for  such  calculations  are  very  uncertain , 
and  three  elements  of  additional  uncertainty  closely 
related  to  each  other  must  also  be  noticed.  The  first 
is  the  unknown  length  of  the  intervals  in  which  no 
deposition  whatever  may  have  been  taking  place 
over  the  areas  open  to  our  investigation.  The  second 
is  the  varying  amounts  in  which  material  once  de- 
posited may  have  been  swept  away  by  water.  The 
third  is  the  amount  of  difference  that  may  have 
resulted  from  the  progressive  change  of  the  geo- 
graphical features  of  our  continents.  These  uncer- 
tainties would  all  tend  to  diminish  our  estimate 
of  the  relative  length  of  the  Mesozoic.  Lastly,  the 
changes  that  have  taken  place  in  living  beings, 
though  a  good  measure  of  the  lapse  of  time,  cannot  be 
taken  as  a  criterion  here,  since  there  is  much  reason  to 
believe  that  more  rapid  changes  of  physical  conditions 
act  as  an  inducing  cause  of  rapid  changes  of  life. 

On  the  whole,  then,  taking  such  facts  as  we  have, 
and  making  large  deductions  for  the  several  causes 
tending  to  exaggerate  our  conception  of  Palaeozoic 
time,  we  can  scarcely  doubt  that  the  Palaeozoic  may 
have  been  three  times  as  long  as  the  Mesozoic.  If 
so,  the  continental  pulsations,  and  the  changes  in 
animal  and  vegetable  life,  must  have  gone  on  with 
accelerated  rapidity  in  the  later  period, — a  conclusion 
to  which  we  shall  again  have  occasion  to  refer  when 
we  arrive  at  the  consideration  of  the  Tertiary  or 
Neozoic  time,  and  the  age  of  man,  and  the  probable 
duration  of  the  order  of  things  under  which  we  live, 


THE    MESOZOIC   AGES.  199 

I  have  given  this  preliminary  sketch  of  the  whole 
Mesozoic  time,  because  we  cannot  here,  as  in  the 
Palseozoic,  take  up  each  age  separately;  and  now  we 
must  try  to  picture  to  ourselves  the  life  and  action  of 
these  ages.  In  doing  so  we  may  look  at,  first,  the 
plant  life  of  this  period;  second,  animal  life  on  the 
land ;  and  third,  animal  life  in  the  waters  and  in  the 
ocean  depths. 

The  Mesozoic  shores  were  clothed  with  an  abund- 
ant flora,  which  changed  considerably  in  its  form 
during  the  lapse  of  this  long  time;  but  yet  it  has  a 
character  of  its  own  distinct  from  that  of  the  previous 
Palaeozoic  and  the  succeeding  Tertiary.  Perhaps  no 
feature  of  this  period  is  more  characteristic  than  the 
great  abundance  of  those  singular  plants,  the  cycads, 
which  in  the  modern  flora  are  placed  near  to  the 
pines,  but  in  their  appearance  and  habit  more 
resemble  palins,  and  which  in  the  modern  world  are 
chiefly  found  in  the  tropical  and  warm  temperate 
zones  of  Asia  and  America.  No  plants  certainly  of 
this  order  occur  in  the  Carboniferous,  where  their 
nearest  allies  are  perhaps  some  of  the  Sigillarise ;  and 
in  the  modern  time  the  cycads  are  not  so  abundant, 
nor  do  they  •  occur  at  all  in  climates  where  their 
predecessors  appear  to  have  abounded.  In  the  quar- 
ries of  the  island  of  Portland,  we  have  a  remarkable 
evidence  of  this  in  beds  with  numerous  stems  of 
cycads  still  in  situ  in  the  soil  in  which  they  grew, 
and  associated  with  stumps  of  pines  which  seem  to 
have  flourished  along  with  them.  In  further  illustra- 


200      THE  STORY  OF  THE  EAETH  AND  MAN. 

tion  of  this  point,  I  may  refer  to  the  fact  that  Car- 
ruthers,  in  a  recent  paper,  catalogues  twenty-five 
British  species  belonging  to  eight  genera — a  fact 
which  markedly  characterizes  the  British  flora  of  the 
Mesozoic  period.  These  plants  will  therefore  occupy 
a  prominent  place  in  our  restoration  of  the  Mesozoic 
landscape,  and  we  should  give  especial  prominence  to 
the  beautiful  species  Williamsonia  gigas,  discovered 
by  the  eminent  botanist  whose  name  it  bears,  and 
restored  in  his  paper  on  the  plant  in  the  "  Linnaean 
Transactions."  These  plants,  with  pines  and  gigantic 
equisetums,  prevailed  greatly  in  the  earlier  Mesozoic 
flora,  but  as  the  time  wore  on,  various  kinds  of 
endogens,  resembling  the  palms  and  the  screw-pines 
of  the  tropical  islands,  were  introduced,  and  toward 
its  close  some  representatives  of  the  exogens  very 
like  our  ordinary  trees.  Among  these  we  find  for 
the  first  time  in  our  upward  progress  in  the  history 
of  the  earth,  species  of  our  familiar  oaks,  figs,  and 
walnut,  along  with  some  trees  now  confined  to  Aus- 
tralia and  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  as  the  banksias 
and  "  silver-trees,"  and  their  allies.  In  America  a 
large  number  of  the  genera  of  the  modern  trees  are 
present,  and  even  some  of  those  now  peculiar  to 
America,  as  the  tulip-trees  and  sweet-gums.  These 
forests  of  the  later  Mesozoic  must  therefore  have 
been  as  gay  with  flowers  and  as  beautiful  in  foliage 
as  those  of  the  modern  world,  and  there  is  evidence 
that  they  swarmed  with  insect  life.  Further,  the 
Mesozoic  plants  produced  in  some  places  beds  of  coal 


THE    MESOZOIC   AGES.  201 

comparable  in  value  and  thickness  to  those  of  the  old 
coal  formation.  Of  this  kind  are  the  coal  beds  of 
Brora  in  Sutherlandshire,  those  of  Richmond  in 
Virginia,  and  Deep  River  in  N.  Carolina,  those  of 
Vancouver's  Island,  and  a  large  part  of  those  of 
China.  To  the  same  age  have  been  referred  some  at 
least  of  the  coal  beds  of  Australia  and  India.  So 
important  are  these  beds  in  China,  that  had  geology 
originated  in  that  country,  the  Mesozoic  might  have 
been  our  age  of  coal. 

If  the  forests  of  the  Mesozoic  present  a  great 
advance  over  those  of  the  Palaeozoic,  so  do  the 
animals  of  the  land,  which  now  embrace  all  the  great 
types  of  vertebrate  life.  Some  of  these  creatures 
have  left  strange  evidence  of  their  existence  in  their 
footprints  on  the  sand  and  clay,  now  cemented  into 
beds  of  hard  rock  excavated  by  the  quarryman.  If 
we  had  landed  on  some  wide  muddy  Mesozoic  shore, 
we  might  have  found  it  marked  in  all  directions  with 
animal  footprints.  Some  of  these  are  shaped  much 
like  a  human  hand.  The  creature  that  made  this 
mark  was  a  gigantic  successor  of  the  crocodilian 
newts  or  labyrinthodonts  of  the  Carboniferous,  and 
this  type  seems  to  have  attained  its  maximum  in  this 
period,  where  one  species,  Labyrinthodon  giganteus, 
had  great  teeth  three  or  four  inches  in  length,  and 
presenting  in  their  cross  section  the  most  complicated 
foldings  of  enamel  imaginable.  But  we  may  see  on 
the  shores  still  more  remarkable  footprints.  They 

indicate   biped   and    three-toed    animals    of    gigantic 

10 


202      THE  STORY  OP  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

size,  with  a  stride  perhaps  six  feet  in  length.  Were 
they  enormous  birds  ?  If  so,  the  birds  of  this  aga 
must  have  been  giants  which  would  dwarf  even  our 
ostriches.  But  as  we  walk  along  the  shore  we  see 
many  other  impressions,  some  of  them  much  smaller 
and  different  in  form.  Some,  again,  very  similar  in 
other  respects,  have  four  toes;  and,  more  wonderful 
still,  in  tracing  up  some  of  the  tracks,  we  find  that 
here  and  there  the  creature  has  put  down  on  the  ground 
a  sort  of  four-fingered  hand,  while  some  of  these 
animals  seem  to  have  trailed  long  tails  behind  them. 
What  were  these  portentous  creatures — bird,  beast, 
or  reptile  ?  The  answer  has  been  given  to  us  by 
their  bones,  as  studied  by  Yon  Meyer  and  Owen,  and 
more  recently  by  Huxley  and  Cope.  We  thus  have 
brought  before  us  the  Dinosaurs — the  terrible  Saurians 
— of  the  Mesozoic  age,  the  noblest  of  the  Tanninim 
of  old.  These  creatures  constitute  numerous  genera 
and  species,  some  of  gigantic  size,  others  compara- 
tively small; — some  harmless  browsers  on  plants, 
others  terrible  renders  of  living  flesh;  but  all  re- 
markable for  presenting  a  higher  type  of  reptile 
organization  than  any  now  existing,  and  approach- 
ing in  some  respects  to  the  birds  and  in  others  to  the 
mammalia.  Let  us  take  one  example  of  each  of  the 
principal  group  -.  And  first  marches  before  us  the 
Iguanodon  or  his  relation  Hadrosaurus — a  gigantic 
biped,  twenty  feet  or  more  in  height,  with  enormous 
legs  shaped  like  those  of  an  ostrich,  but  of  elephant- 
ine thickness.  It  strides  along,  not  by  leaps  like  8 


THE    MESOZO1C    AGES.  203 

kangaroo,  but  with  slow  and  stately  tread,  occasionally 
resting,  and  supporting  itself  on  the  tripod  formed 
by  its  hind  limbs  and  a  huge  tail,  like  the  inverted 
trunk  of  a  tree.  The  upper  part  of  its  body  becomes 
Email  and  slender,  and  its  head,  of  diminutive  size 
and  mild  aspect,  is  furnished  with  teeth  for  munching 
the  leaves  and  fruits  of  trees,  which  it  can  easily 
reach  with  its  small  fore-limbs,  or  hands,  as  it  walks 
through  the  woods.  The  outward  appearance  of 
these  creatures  we  do  not  certainly  know.  It  is  not 
likely  that  they  had  bony  plates  like  crocodiles,  but 
they  may  have  shone  resplendent  in  horny  scale 
armour  of  varied  hues.  But  another  and  more  dread- 
ful form  rises  before  us.  It  is  Meyalosaurus  or  perhaps 
Lcclaps.  Here  we  have  a  creature  of  equally  gigantic 
size  and  biped  habits ;  but  it  is  much  more  agile,  and 
runs  with  great  swiftness  or  advances  by  huge  leaps, 
and  its  feet  and  hands  are  armed  with  strong  curved 
claws ;  while  its  mouth  has  a  formidable  armature  of 
sharp-edged  and  pointed  teeth.  It  is  a  type  of  a 
group  of  biped  bird-like  lizards,  the  most  terrible 
and  formidable  of  rapacious  animals  that  the  earth 
has  ever  seen.  Some  of  these  creatures,  in  their 
short  deep  jaws  and  heads,  resembled  the  great  car- 
nivorous mammals  of  modern  times,  while  all  in  the 
structure  of  their  limbs  had  a  strange  and  grotesque 
resemblance  to  the  birds.  Nearly  all  naturalists  re- 
gard them  as  reptiles;  but  in  their  circulation  and 
respiration  they  must  have  approached  to  the  mam- 
malia, and  their  general  habit  of  body  recalls  that  of 


2C4       THE  STORY  OP  THE  EAETH  AND  MAN. 

the  kangaroos.  They  were  no  doubt  oviparous;  and 
this,  with  their  biped  habit,  seems  to  explain  the 
strong  resemblance  of  their  hind  quarters  to  those  of 
birds.  Had  we  seen  the  eagle-clawed  Laelaps  rushing 
ou  his  prey;  throwing  his  huge  bulk  perhaps  thirty 
feet  through  the  air,  and  crushing  to  the  earth  under 
his  gigantic  talons  some  feebler  Hadrosaur,  we  should 
have  shudderingly  preferred  the  companionship  of 
modern  wolves  and  tigers  to  that  of  those  savage 
and  gigantic  monsters  of  the  Mesozoic. 

We  must  not  leave  the  great  land-lizards  of  the 
reptilian  age,  without  some  notice  of  that  Goliath  of 
the  race  which,  by  a  singular  misnomer,  has  received 
the  appellation  of  Ceteosaurus  or  "  Whale- Saurian." 
It  was  first  introduced  to  naturalists  by  the  discovery 
of  a  few  enormous  vertebrae  in  the  English  Oolite ; 
and  as  these  in  size  and  form  seemed  best  to  fit  an 
aquatic  creature,  it  was  named  in  accordance  with 
this  view.  But  subsequent  discoveries  have  shown 
that,  incredible  though  this  at  first  appeared,  the 
animal  had  limbs  fitted  for  walking  on  the  land. 
Professor  Phillips  has  been  most  successful  in  col- 
lecting and  restoring  the  remains  of  Ceteosaurus, 
and  devotes  to  its  history  a  long  and  interesting 
section  of  his  "Geology  of  Oxford."  The  size  of 
the  animal  may  be  estimated,  from  the  fact  that  its 
thigh-bone  is  sixty-four  inches  long,  and  thick  in 
proportion.  From  this  and  other  fragments  of  the 
skeleton,  we  learn  that  this  huge  monster  nrist  have 
stood  ten  feet  high  when  on  all  fours,  and  that  its 


THE    MESOZOIC    AGES.  205 

length,  could  not  have  been  less  than  fifty  feet ;  per- 
haps much  more.  From  a  single  tooth,  which  has 
been  found,  it  seems  to  have  been  herbivorous;  and 
it  was  probably  a  sort  of  reptilian  Hippopotamus, 
living  on  the  rich  herbage  by  the  sides  of  streams 
and  marshes,  and  perhaps  sometimes  taking  to  the 
water,  where  the  strokes  of  its  powerful  tail  would 
enable  it  to  move  more  rapidly  than  on  the  land. 
In  structure,  it  seems  to  have  been  a  composite 
creature,  resembling  in  many  points  the  contemporary 
Dinosaurs;  but  in  others,  approaching  to  the  croco- 
diles and  the  lizards. 

But  the  wonders  of  Mesozoic  reptiles  are  not  yet 
exhausted.  While  noticing  numerous  crocodiles  and 
lizard:like  creatures,  and  several  kinds  of  tortoises, 
we  are  startled  by  what  seems  a  flight  of  great  bats, 
wheeling  and  screaming  overhead,  pouncing  on 
smaller  creatures  of  their  own  kind,  as  hawks  seize 
sparrows  and  partridges,  and  perhaps  diving  into 
the  sea  for  fish.  These  were  the  Pterodactyl es,  the 
reptile  bats  of  the  Mesozoic.  They  fly  by  means  of 
a  membrane  stretched  on  a  monstrously  enlarged 
little  finger,  while  the  other  fingers  of  the  fore  limb 
are  left  free  to  be  used  as  hands  or  feet.  To  move 
these  wings,  they  had  large  breast-muscles  like  those 
of  birds.  In  their  general  structure,  they  were 
lizards,  but  no  doubt  of  far  higher  organization 
than  any  animals  of  this  order  now  living;  and  in 
accordance  with  this,  the  interior  of  their  skull  shows 
that  they  must  have  had  a  brain  comparable  with 


206       THE  STORY  OP  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

that  of  birds,  which,  they  rivalled  in  energy  and 
intelligence.  Some  of  them  were  larger  than  the 
largest  modern  birds  of  prey,  others  were  like  pigeons 
and  snipes  in  size.  Specimens  in  the  Cambridge 
Museum  indicate  one  species  twenty  feet  in  the 
expanse  of  its  wings.  Cope  has  recently  described  an 
equally  gigantic  species  from  the  Mesozoic  of  Western 
America,  and  fragments  of  much  larger  species  are 
said  to  exist.*  Imagine  such  a  creature,  a  flying 
dragon,  with  vast  skinny  wings,  its  body,  perhaps, 
covered  with  scales,  both  wings  and  feet  armed  with 
strong  claws,  and  with  long  jaws  furnished  with 
sharp  teeth.  Nothing  can  be  conceived  more  strange 
and  frightful.  Some  of  them  had  the  hind  limbs 
long,  like  wading  birds.  Some  had  short,  legs, 
adapted  perhaps  for  perching.  They  could  probably 
fold  up  their  wings,  and  walk  on  all  fours.  Their 
skeleton,  like  that  of  birds,  was  very  light,  yet  strong  ; 
and  the  hollow  bones  have  pores,  which  show  that,  as 
in  birds,  air  could  be  introduced  into  them  from  the 
lungs.  This  proves  a  circulation  resembling  that  of 
birds,  and  warm  blood.  Indeed,  in  many  respects, 
these  creatures  bridge  over  the  space  between  the 
birds  and  the  reptiles.  "That  they  lived/'  says 
Seeley,  "  exclusively  upon  land  or  in  the  air  is  im- 
probable, considering  the  circumstances  under  which 
their  remains  are  found.  It  is  likely  that  they 
haunted  the  sea-shores ;  and  while  sometimes  rowing 
themselves  over  the  water  with  their  powerful  wirgst 
*  Seeley :  "  Ornithosauria" 


THE    MESOZOIC   AGES.  207 

Used  the  wing  membrane,  as  does  the  bat,  to  encloses 
the  prey  and  bring  it  to  the  mouth.  The  large 
Pterodactyles  probably  pursued  a  more  substantial 
prey  than  dragon-flies.  Their  teeth  were  well  suited 
for  fish;  but  probably  fowl  and  small  mammal,  and 
j?ven  fruits,  made  a  variety  in  their  food.  As  the 
lord  of  the  cliff,  it  may  be  supposed  to  have  taken 
toll  of  all  animals  that  could  be  conquered  with  tooth 
and  nail.  From  its  brain,  it  might  be  regarded  as  an 
intelligent  animal.  The  jaws  present  indications  of 
having  been  sheathed  with  a  horny  covering,  and 
some  species  show  a  rugose  anterior  termination  of 
the  snout,  suggestive  of  fleshy  lips  like  those  of  the 
bat,  and  which  may  have  been  similarly  used  to 
stretch  and  clean  the  wing-membrane." 

Here,  however,  perched  on  the  trees,  we  see  true 
birds.  At  least  they  have  beaks,  and  are  clothed 
with  feathers.  But  they  have  very  strange  wings, 
the  feathers  all  secondaries,  without  any  large  quills, 
and  several  fingers  with  claws  at  the  angle  of  the 
wing,  so  that  though  less  useful  as  wings,  they 
served  the  double  purpose  of  wing  and  hand.  More 
strange  still,  the  tail  was  long  and  flexible,  like  that 
of  a  lizard,  with  the  feathers  arranged  in  rows  along 
its  sides.  If  the  lizards  of  this  strange  and  uncertain 
time  had  wings  like  bats,  the  birds  had  tails  and 
hands  like  lizards.  This  was  in  short  the  special 
age  of  reptiles,  when  animals  of  that  class  usurped 
the  powers  which  rightfully  belonged  to  creatures 
yet  in  their  nonage,  the  true  birds  and  mammals  of 


208      THE  STOET  OP  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

our  modern  days,  while  the  birds  were  compelled  to 
assume  some  reptilian  traits. 

Yet,  strange  to  say,  representatives  of  the  higher 
creatures  destined  to  inherit  the  earth  at  a  later  date 
actually  existed.  Toward  the  close  of  the  Mesozoic 
we  find  birds  approaching  to  those  of  our  own  day, 
and  almost  at  the  beginning  of  the  time  there  were 
small  mammals,  remains  of  which  are  found  both  in 
the  earlier  and  later  formations  of  the  Mesozoic,  but 
which  never  seem  to  have  thriven ;  at  least  so  far  as 
the  introduction  of  large  and  important  species  is 
concerned.  Traversing  the  Mesozoic  woods,  we  might 
see  here  and  there  little  hairy  creatures,  which  would 
strike  a  naturalist  as  allies  of  the  modern  bandicoots, 
kangaroo  rats,  and  myrmecobius  of  Australia ;  and 
closer  study  would  confirm  this  impression,  though 
showing  differences  of  detail.  In  their  teeth,  their 
size,  and  general  form,  and  probably  in  their  pouched 
or  marsupial  reproduction,  these  animals  were  early 
representatives  of  the  smaller  quadrupeds  of  the 
Austral  continent,  creatures  which  are  not  only  small 
but  of  low  organisation  in  their  class. 

One  of  these  mammals,  known  to  us  only  by  its 
teeth,  and  well  named  Microlestes,  the  "  little  thief/' 
sneaks  into  existence,  so  to  speak,  in  the  Trias  of 
Europe,  while  another  very  similar,  Dromatherium, 
appears  in  rocks  of  similar  age  in  America ;  and  this 
is  the  small  beginning  of  the  great  class  Mammalia, 
destined  in  its  quadrupedal  forms  to  culminate  in  the 
elephants  and  their  contemporaries  in  the  Tertiary 


THE    MESOZOIC   AGES. 

poriod.  "Who  that  saw  them  trodden  under  foot  lay 
the  reptile  aristocracy  of  the  Mesozoic  could  have 
divined  their  destiny?  But,  notwithstanding  the 
struggle  for  existence,  the  weakest  does  not  always 
"go  to  the  wall."  The  weak  things  of  this  world 
are  often  chosen  to  confound  those  that  are  mighty; 
and  the  little  quadrupeds  of  the  Mesozoic  are  an 
allegory.  They  may  typify  the  true,  the  good,  and 
the  hopeful,  mildly  and  humbly  asserting  themselves 
in  the  world  that  now  is,  in  the  presence  of  the 
dragon  monsters  of  pride  and  violence,  which  in  the 
days  to  come  they  will  overthrow.  Physically  the 
Mesozoic  has  passed  away,  but  still  exists  morally  in 
an  age  of  evil  reptiles,  whose  end  is  as  certain  as 
that  of  the  great  Dinosaurs  of  the  old  world. 

The  Mesozoic  mammals  are  among  the  most  inter- 
esting fossils  known  to  us.  In  a  recent  memoir  by 
Professor  Owen,  thirty-three  species  are  indicated — all, 
or  nearly  all,  Marsupial — all  small — all  closely  allied 
to  modern  Australian  animals ;  some  herbivorous, 
some  probably  carnivorous.  Owen  informs  us  that 
these  animals  are  not  merely  marsupials,  but  mar- 
supials of  low  grade,  a  point  in  which,  however, 
Huxley  differs  somewhat  in  opinion.  They  are  at 
least  not  lower  than  some  that  still  exist,  and  not  so 
low  as  those  lowest  of  mammals  in  Modern  Australia, 
the  duck-billed  platypus  and  the  echidna.  Owen 
further  supposes  that  they  were  possibly  the  first 
mammals,  and  not  only  the  predecessors  but  the  pro- 
genitors of  the  modern  marsupials.  If  so,  we  have 

10* 


210  THfc    STORY    OF    THE    EARTH    AND    MAN. 

the  singular  fact  that  they  not  only  did  not  improve 
throughout  the  vast  Mesozoic  time,  but  that  they  have 
been  in  the  progress  of  subsequent  geological  ages 
expelled  out  of  the  great  eastern  continent,  and,  with 
the  exception  of  the  American  opossums,  banished, 
like  convicts,  to  Australia.  Yet,  notwithstanding  their 
multiplied  travels  and  long  experiences,  they  have 
made  little  advance.  It  thus  seems  that  the  Mesozoic 
mammals  were,  from  the  evolutionist  point  of  view,  a 
decided  failure,  and  the  work  of  introducing  mammals 
had  to  be  done  over  again  in  the  Tertiary ;  and  then, 
as  we  shall  find,  in  a  very  different  way.  If  nothing 
more,  however,  the  Mesozoic  mammals  were  a  mute 
prophecy  of  a  better  time,  a  protest  that  the  age  of 
reptiles  was  an  imperfect  age,  and  that  better  things 
were  in  store  for  the  world.  Moses  seems  to  have 
been  more  hopeful  of  them  than  Owen  or  even  Huxley 
would  have  been.  He  says  that  God  "  created  "  the 
great  Tanninim,  the  Dinosaurs  and  their  allies,  but 
only  "  made  "  the  mammals  of  the  following  creative 
day ;  so  that  when  Microlestes  and  his  companions 
quietly  and  unnoticed  presented  themselves  in  the 
Mesozoic,  they  would  appear  in  some  way  to  have 
obviated,  in  the  case  of  the  tertiary  mammals,  the 
necessity  of  a  repetition  of  the  greater  intervention 
implied  in  the  word  "  create."  How  that  was  effected 
none  of  us  know ;  but,  perhaps,  we  may  know  here- 
after. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  MESOZOIC  AGES — (continued). 

THE  waters  of  the  Mesozoic  period  present  features 
quite  as  remarkable  as  the  land.  In  our  survey  of 
their  teeming  multitudes,  we  indeed  scarcely  know 
where  to  begin  or  whither  to  turn.  Let  us  look  first 
at  the  higher  or  more  noble  inhabitants  of  the  waters. 
And  here,  just  as  in  the  case  of  the  greater  animals 
of  the  land,  the  Mesozoic  was  emphatically  an  age  of 
reptiles.  In  the  modern  world  the  highest  animals 
the  sea  are  mammals,  and  these  belong  to  three  great 
and  somewhat  diverse  groups.  The  first  is  that  of  the 
seals  and  their  allies,  the  walruses,  sea-lions,  etc.  The 
second  is  that  of  the  whales  and  dolphins  and  por- 
poises. The  third  is  that  of  the  manatees,  or  dugongs. 
All  these  creatures  breathe  air,  and  bring  forth  their 
young  alive,  and  nourish  them  with  milk.  Yet  they 
all  live  habitually  or  constantly  in  the  water.  Be- 
tween these  aquatic  mammals  and  the  fishes,  we  have 
some  aquatic  reptiles — as  the  turtles,  and  a  few  sea- 
snakes  and  sea-lizards,  and  crocodiles  ;  but  the 
number  of  these  is  comparatively  small,  and  in  the 
more  temperate  latitudes  there  are  scarcely  any  of 
them. 

All  this  was  different  in  the  Mesozoic.     In  so  far  as 
we  know,  there  were  no  representatives  of  the  seals 


212  THE    STOEY    OP    THE    EARTH    AND    MAN. 

and  whales  and  their  allies,  but  there  were  vast  num- 
bers of  marine  reptiles,  and  many  of  these  of  gigantic 
size.  Britain  at  present  does  not  possess  one  large 
reptile,  and  no  marine  reptile  whatever.  In  the 
Mesozoic,  in  addition  to  the  great  Dinosaurs  and 
Pterodactyls  of  the  land,  it  had  at  least  fifty  or  sixty 
species  of  aquatic  reptiles,  besides  many  turtles.  Some 
of  these  were  comparable  in  size  with  our  modern 
whales,  and  armed  with  tremendous  powers  of  destruc- 
tion. America  is  not  relatively  rich  in  remains  of 
Mesozoic  Saurians,  yet  while  the  existing  fauna  of  the 
temperate  parts  of  North  America  is  nearly  destitute 
of  aquatic  reptiles,  with  the  exception  of  the  turtles, 
it  can  boast,  according  to  Cope's  lists,  about  fifty 
Mesozoic  species,  many  of  them  of  gigantic  size,  and 
the  number  of  known  species  is  increasing  every  year 
When  it  is  taken  in  connection  with  these  statistics, 
that  while  we  know  all  the  modern  species,  we  know 
but  a  small  percentage  of  the  fossils,  the  discrepancy 
becomes  still  more  startling.  Further,  from  the  num- 
ber of  specimens  and  fragments  found,  it  is  obvious 
that  these  great  aquatic  saurians  were  by  no  means 
rare ;  and  that  some  of  the  species  at  least  must  have 
been  very  abundant.  Could  we  have  taken  our  post 
on  the  Mesozoic  shore,  or  sailed  over  its  waters,  we 
should  have  found  ourselves  in  the  midst  of  swarms  of 
these  Btrange,  often  hideous,  and  always  grotesque 
creatures. 

Let  us  consider  for  a  little  some  of  the  more  con. 
gpicuous  forms,  referring  to  our  illustration  for  their 


THE    MESOZOIC   AGES.  2il3 

portraits.  Every  text-book  figures  the  well-known 
types  of  the  genera  Ichthyosaurus  and  Plesiosaurus ; 
we  need  scarcely,  therefore,  dwell  on  them,  except  to 
state  that  the  catalogues  of  British  fossils  include 
eleven  species  of  the  former  genus  and  eighteen  of  the 
latter,  We  may,  however,  notice  some  of  the  less 
familiar  points  of  comparison  of  the  two  genera. 
Both  were  aquatic,  and  probably  marine.  Both  swam 
by  means  of  paddles ;  both  were  carnivorous,  and 
probably  fed  principally  upon  fishes ;  both  were  pro- 
per reptiles,  and  breathed  air,  and  had  large  and 
capacious  lungs.  Yet  with  these  points  in  common, 
no  two  animals  could  have  been  more  different  in 
detail.  The  Ichthyosaurus  had  an  enormous  head, 
with  powerful  jaws,  furnished  with  numerous  and 
strong  teeth.  Its  great  eyes,  strengthened  by  a  circle 
of  bony  plates,  exceeded  in  dimensions,  and  probably 
in  power  of  vision  under  water,  those  of  any  other 
animal,  recent  or  fossil.  Its  neck  was  short,  its  trunk 
massive,  with  paddles  or  swimming  limbs  of  compara- 
tively small  size,  and  a  long  tail,  probably  furnished 
with  a  caudal  fin  or  paddle  for  propulsion  through  the 
water.  The  Plesiosaur,  on  the  other  hand,  had  a 
small  and  delicate  head,  with  slender  teeth  and  small 
eyes.  Its  neck,  of  great  length  and  with  numerous 
joints,  resembled  the  body  of  a  serpent.  Its  trunk, 
short,  compact,  and  inflexible,  was  furnished  with 
large  and  strong  paddles,  and  its  tail  was  too  short  to 
be  of  any  service  except  for  steering.  Compared  with 
the  Ichthyosaur,  it  was  what  the  giraffe  is  to  tha 


214  THE    STORY    OF    THE    EAETH    AND    MAN. 

rhinoceros,  or  the  swan  to  the  porpoise.  Two  fisher- 
men so  variously  and  differently  fitted  for  their  work 
it  would  be  difficult  to  imagine.  BUD  these  differences 
were  obviously  related  to  corresponding  differences  in 
food  and  habit.  The  Ichthyosaur  was  fitted  to 
struggle  with  the  waves  of  the  stormy  sea,  to  roll 
therein  like  modern  whales  and  grampuses,  to  seize 
and  devour  great  fishes,  and  to  dive  for  them  into  the 
depths;  and  its  great  armour-plated  eyes  must  have 
been  well  adapted  for  vision  in  the  deeper  waters. 
The  Plesiosaur,  on  the  contrary,  was  fitted  for  com- 
paratively still  and  shallow  waters;  swimming  near 
the  surface  with  its  graceful  neck  curving  aloft,  it 
could  dart  at  the  smaller  fishes  on  the  surface,  or 
stretch  its  long  neck  downward  in  search  of  those 
near  the  bottom.  The  Ichthyosaurs  rolled  like  por- 
poises in  the  surf  of  the  Liassic  coral  reefs  and  the 
waves  beyond ;  the  Plesiosaurs  careered  gracefully  in 
the  quiet  waters  within.  Both  had  their  beginning  at 
the  same  time  in  the  earlier  Mesozoic,  and  both  found 
a  common  and  final  grave  in  its  later  sediments. 
Some  of  the  species  were  of  very  moderate  size,  but 
there  were  Ichthyosaurs  twenty  five  feet  long,  and 
Plesiosaurs  at  least  eighteen  feet  in  length. 

Another  strange  and  monstrous  group  of  creatures, 
the  Elasmosaurs  and  their  allies,  combined  the  long 
neck  of  Plesiosaurs  with  the  swimming  tail  of  Ichthyo- 
saurs, the  latter  enormously  elongated,  so  that  these 
Creatures  were  sometimes  fifty  feet  in  length,  and 
whale-like  in  the  dimensions  of  their  bodies.  It  is 


THE    MESOZOIC   AGES.  215 

Curious  that  these  composite  creatures  belong  to  a 
later  period  of  the  Mesozoic  than  the  typical  Ichthyo- 
saurs  and  Plesiosaurs,  as  if  the  characters  at  one 
time  separated  in  these  genera  had  united  in  their 
successors. 

One  of  the  relatives  of  the  Plesiosaurs,  the  Pliosaur, 
of  which  genus  several  species  of  great  size  are  known 
perhaps  realized  in  the  highest  degree  possible  the 
idea  of  a  huge  marine  predaceous  reptile.  The  head 
in  some  of  the  species  was  eight  feet  in  length,  armed 
with  conical  teeth  a  foot  long.  The  neck  was  not 
only  long,  but  massive  and  powerful,  the  paddles,  four 
in  number,  were  six  or  seven  feet  in  length  and  must 
have  urged  the  vast  bulk  of  the  animal,  perhaps  forty 
feet  in  extent,  through  the  water  with  prodigious 
speed.  The  capacious  chest  and  great  ribs  show  a 
powerful  heart  and  lungs.  Imagine  such  a  creature 
raising  its  huge  head  twelve  feet  or  more  out  of  water, 
and  rushing  after  its  prey,  impelled  with  perhaps  the 
most  powerful  oars  ever  possessed  by  any  animal. 
We  may  be  thankful  that  such  monsters,  more  terrible 
than  even  the  fabled  sea-serpent,  are  unknown  in  ouy 
days.  Buckland,  I  think,  at  one  time  indulged  in  the 
jeu  d' 'esprit  of  supposing  an  Ichthyosaur  lecturing  on 
the  human  skull.  "  You  will  at  once  perceive,"  said 
the  lecturer,  "that  the  skull  before  us  belonged  to 
one  of  the  lower  orders  of  animals.  The  teeth  are 
very  insignificant,  the  power  of  the  jaws  trifling,  and 
altogether  it  seems  wonderful  how  the  creature  could 
have  procured  food."  We  cannot  retort  on  thn 


216       THE  STOEY  OP  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

Tchthyosaizr  and  his  contemporaries,  for  we  can  see 
that  they  were  admirably  fitted  for  the  work  they  had 
in  hand ;  but  we  can  see  that  had  man  been  so  un- 
fortunate as  to  have  lived  in  their  days,  he  might  have 
been  anything  but  the  lord  of  creation. 

But  there  were  sea-serpents  as  well  as  other  mon- 
sters in  the  Mesozoic  seas.  Many  years  ago  the  Lower 
Cretaceous  beds  of  St.  Peter's  Mount,  near  Maestricht, 
afforded  a  skull  three  feet  in  length,  of  massive  pro- 
portions, and  furnished  with  strong  conical  teeth,  to 
which  the  name  Mosasaurus  Camperi  was  given.  The 
skull  and  other  parts  of  the  skeleton  found  with  it, 
were  held  to  indicate  a  large  aquatic  reptile,  but  its' 
precise  position  in  its  class  was  long  a  subject  of  dis- 
pute. Faujas  held  it  to  be  a  crocodile ;  Camper, 
Cuvier,  and  Owen  regarded  it  as  a  gigantic  lizard. 
More  recently,  additional  specimens,  especially  those 
found  in  the  Cretaceous  formations  of  North  America, 
have  thrown  new  light  upon  its  structure,  and  have 
shown  it  to  present  a  singular  combination  of  the  cha- 
racter of  serpents,  lizards,  and  of  the  great  sea  saurians 
already  referred  to.  Some  parts  of  the  head  and  the 
articulation  of  the  jaws,  in  important  points  resemble 
those  of  serpents,  while  in  other  respects  the  head  is 
that  of  a  gigantic  lizard.  The  body  and  tail  are 
greatly  lengthened  out,  having  more  than  a  hundred 
vertebral  joints,  and  in  one  of  the  larger  species  at- 
taining the  length  of  eighty  feet.  The  trunk  itself  is 
much  elongated,  and  with  ribs  like  those  of  a  snake. 
There  are  no  walking  feet,  but  a  pair  of  fins  or  paddles 


THE   MESOZOIC   AGES.  217 

like  those  of  Ichthyosaurus.  Cope,  who  has  described 
these  great  creatures  as  they  occur  in  the  Cretaceous 
of  the  United  States,  thus  sketches  the  Mosasaur  :  *  It 
was  a  long  and  slender  reptile,  with  a  pair  of  powerful 
paddles  in  front,  a  moderately  long  neck,  and  flat 
pointed  head.  The  very  long  tail  was  flat  and  deep, 
like  that  of  a  great  eel,  forming  a  powerful  pro- 
peller. The  arches  of  the  vertebral  column  were  more 
extensively  interlocked  than  in  any  other  reptiles 
except  the  snakes.  In  the  related  genus  Clidastes 
this  structure  is  as  fully  developed  as  in  the  serpents, 
so  that  we  can  picture  to  ourselves  its  well-known  con- 
sequences j  their  rapid  progress  through  the  water  by 
lateral  undulations,  their  lithe  motions  on  the  land,  the 
rapid  stroke,  the  ready  coil,  or  the  elevation  of  the  head 
and  vertebral  column,  literally  a  living  pillar,  towering 
above  the  waves  or  the  thickets  of  the  shore  swamps." 
As  in  serpents,  the  mouth  was  wide  in  its  gape, 
and  the  lower  jaw  capable  of  a  certain  separation  from 
the  skull  to  admit  of  swallowing  large  prey.  Besides 
this  the  lower  jaw  had  an  additional  peculiarity,  seen 
in  some  snakes,  namely,  a  joint  in  the  middle  of  the 
jaw  enabling  its  sides  to  expand,  so  that  the  food 
might  be  swallowed  "  between  the  branches  of  the 
jaw/'  Perhaps  no  creatures  more  fully  realize  in 
their  enormous  length  and  terrible  powers  the  great 
Tanninim  (the  stretched-out  or  extended  reptiles)  of 
the  fifth  day  of  the  Mosaic  record,  than  the  Mosa- 
saurus  and  Elasmosaurus.  When  Mr.  Cope  showed 
me,  a  few  years  ago,  a  nearly  complete  skeletoo 


218      THE  STORY  OP  THE  EAETH  AND  MAN. 

of  Elasmosaurus,  which  for  want  of  space  he  had 
stretched  on  a  gallery  along  two  sides  of  a  large  room, 
I  could  not  help  suggesting  to  him  that  the  name  ol 
the  creature  should  be  Teinosaurus  *  instead  of  that 
which  he  had  given.  Marsh  has  recently  ascertained 
that  the  Mosasaurs  were  covered  in  part  at  least  with 
bony  scales. 

These  animals  may  serve  as  specimens  of  the 
reptilian  giants  of  the  Mesozoic  seas ;  but  before 
leaving  them  we  must  at  least  invite  attention  to 
the  remarkable  fact  that  they  were  contemporary 
with  species  which  represent  the  more  common 
aquatic  reptiles  of  the  modern  world.  In  other 
words,  the  monsters  which  we  have  described  ex- 
isted over  and  above  a  far  more  abundant  popu- 
lation of  crocodiles  and  turtles  than  the  modern 
waters  can  boast.  The  crocodiles  were  represented 
both  in  Europe  and  America  by  numerous  and 
large  species,  most  of  them  with  long  snouts  like 
the  modern  Gavials,  a  few  with  broad  heads  like 
those  of  the  alligators.  The  turtles  again  presented 
not  only  many  species,  but  most  of  the  aquatic 
subdivisions  of  the  group  known  in  modern  times, 
as  for  instance  the  Emydes  or  ordinary  fresh- water 
forms,  the  snapping  turtles,  and  the  soft-shelled 
turtles.  Cope  says  that  the  Cretaceous  of  New 
Jersey  alone  affords  twenty  species,  one  of  them 
a  snapping  turtle  six  feet  in  length.  Owen  records 

*  Heb.  Tanan ;  Gr.  Teino,  Tanuo ;  Sansc.  Tanu ;  Lat.  Tendo. 
—  Ges.  Lex. 


220      THE  STOftY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

above  a  dozen  large  species  from  the  Upper  Meso- 
zoic  of  England,  and  dates  the  first  appearance  of 
the  turtles  in  England  about  the  time  of  the 
Portland  stone,  or  in  the  upper  half  of  the  Meso- 
zoic ;  but  footprints  supposed  to  be  those  of  turtles 
are  found  as  far  back  as  the  Trias.  Perhaps  no 
type  of  modern  reptiles  is  more  curiously  special- 
ized than  these  animals,  yet  we  thus  find  them 
contemporaneous  with  many  generalized  types,  and 
entering  into  existence  perhaps  as  soon  as  they. 
The  turtles  did  not  culminate  in  the  Mesozoic,  but 
go  on  to  be  represented  by  more  numerous  and 
larger  species  in  the  Tertiary  and  Modern.  In  the 
case  of  the  crocodiles,  while  they  attained  perhaps 
a  maximum  toward  the  end  of  the  Mesozoic,  if 
was  in  a  peculiar  form.  The  crocodiles  of  this 
old  time  had  vertebrae  with  a  hollow  at  each  end 
like  the  fishes,  or  with  a  projection  in  the  front. 
At  the  end  of  the  Mesozoic  this  was  changed,  and 
they  assumed  a  better-knit  back,  with  joints  having 
a  ball  behind  and  a  socket  in  front.  In  the 
Cretaceous  age,  species  having  these  two  kinds  of 
backbone  were  contemporaneous.  Perhaps  this  im- 
provement in  the  crocodilian  back  had  something 
to  do  with  the  persistence  of  this  type  after  so 
many  others  of  the  sea-lizards  of  the  Mesozoic 
had  passed  away. 

Of  the  fishes  of  the  Mesozoic  we  need  only  say 
that  they  were  very  abundant,  and  consisted  of 
sharks  and  ganoids  of  various  types,  until  near 


THE    MESOZOIC   AGES.  221 

the  close  of  the  period,  when  the  ordinary  horny- 
scaled  fishes,  such  as  abound  in  our  present  seas, 
appear  to  have  been  introduced.  One  curious  point 
of  difference  is  that  the  unequally  lobed  tail  of 
the  Palaeozoic  fishes  is  dropped  in  the  case  of  the 
greater  part  of  the  ganoids,  and  replaced  by  the 
squarely-cut  tail  prevalent  in  modern  times. 

In  the  sub -kingdom  of  the  Mollusca  many  im- 
portant revolutions  occurred.  Among  the  lamp- 
shells  a  little  Leptaena,  no  bigger  than  a  pea,  is 
the  last  and  depauperated  representative  of  a  great 
Palaeozoic  family.  Another,  that  of  the  Spirifers, 
still  shows  a  few  species  in  the  Lower  Mesozoic. 
Others,  like  Ehynchonella,  and  Terebratula,  continue 
through  the  period,  and  extend  into  the  Modern. 
Passing  over  the  ordinary  bivalves  and  sea-snails, 
which  in  the  main  conform  to  those  of  our  own 
time,  we  find  perhaps  the  most  wonderful  changes 
among  the  relatives  of  the  cuttle-fishes  and  Nautili. 
As  far  back  as  the  Silurian  we  find  the  giant 
Orthoceratites  contemporary  with  Nautili,  very  like 
those  of  the  present  ocean.  With  the  close  of  the 
Palaeozoic,  however,  the  Orthoceratites  and  their 
allies  disappear,  while  the  Nautili  continue,  and  are 
reinforced  by  multitudes  of  new  forms  of  spiral 
chambered  shells,  some  of  them  more  wonderful 
and  beautiful  than  any  of  those  which  either  pre- 
ceded or  followed  them.  Supreme  among  these  is 
the  great  group  of  the  Ammonites,  —  beautifully 
spiral  shells,  thin  and  pearly  like  the  Nautilus,  and 


222       THE  STOBY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

chambered  like  it,  so  as  to  serve  as  a  float,  but 
far  more  elaborately  constructed,  inasmuch  as  the 
chambers  were  not  simply  curved,  but  crimped  and 
convoluted,  so  as  to  give  the  outer  wall  much  more 
effectual  support.  This  outer  wall,  too,  was  worked 
into  ornamental  ribs  and  bands,  which  not  only 
gave  it  exquisite  beauty,  but  contributed  to  com- 
bine strength  to  resist  pressure  with  the  lightness 
necessary  to  a  float.  In  some  of  these  points  it 
is  true  the  Gyroceras  and  Goniatites  of  the  False  - 
ozoic  partially  anticipated  them,  but  much  less  per- 
fectly. The  animals  which  inhabited  these  shells 
must  have  been  similar  to  that  of  Nautilus,  but 
somewhat  different  in  the  proportion  of  parts.  They 
must  have  had  the  same  power  of  rising  and  sink- 
ing in  the  water,  but  the  mechanical  construction 
of  their  shells  was  so  much  more  perfect  rela- 
tively to  this  end,  that  they  were  probably  more 
active  and  locomotive  than  the  Nautili.  They  must 
have  swarmed  in  the  Mesozoic  seas,  some  beds  oi 
limestone  and  shale  being  filled  with  them;  and 
as  many  as  eight  hundred  species  of  this  family 
are  believed  to  be  known,  including,  however,  such 
forms  as  the  Baculites  or  straight  Ammonites,  bear- 
ing to  them  perhaps  a  relation  similar  to  that  of 
Orthoceras  to  Nautilus.  Further,  some  of  the  Am- 
monites are  of  gigantic  size,  one  species  being 
three  feet  in  diameter,  while  others  are  very  minute. 
The  whole  family  of  Ammonitids,  which  begins  to 
be  in  force  in  the  Trias,  disappears  at  the  end  of 


THE    MESOZOIC   AGES.  223 

the  Mesozoic,  so   that  this  may  be  called  the  special 
age  of  Ammonites  as  well  as  of  reptiles. 

Further,  this  time  was  likewise  distinguished  by 
the  introduction  of  true  cuttle-fishes,  the  most  re- 
markable of  which  were  those  furnished  with  the 
internal  supports  or  "bones,"  known  as  Belemnites, 
from  a  fancied  resemblance  to  javelins  or  thunder- 
bolts, a  comparison  at  least  as  baseless  as  that 
often  made  in  England  of  the  Ammonites  to  fossil 
snakes.  The  shell  of  the  Belemnite  is  a  most  cu- 
rious structure.  Its  usual  general  shape  is  a  pointed 
cylinder  or  elongated  cone.  At  top  it  has  a  deep 
cavity  for  the  reception  of  certain  of  the  viscera 
.of  the  animal.  Below  this  is  a  conical  series  of 
chambers,  the  Phragmacone ;  and  the  lower  half  of 
the  shell  is  composed  of  a  solid  shelly  mass  or 
guard,  which,  in  its  structure  of  radiating  fibres 
and  concentric  layers,  resembles  a  stalactite,  or  a 
petrified  piece  of  exogenous  wood.  This  structure 
was  an  internal  shell  or  support  like  those  of  the 
.modern  cuttle-fishes;  but  it  is  difficult  to  account 
for  its  peculiarities,  so  much  more  complex  .than 
in  any  existing  species.  The  most  rational  suppo- 
sition seems  to  be  that  it  was  intended  to  serve 
the  triple  .purpose  of  a  support,  a  float,  and  a  sinker. 
"Unlike  the  shell  of  a  Nautilus,  if  thrown  into  the 
water  it  would  no  doubt  have,  sunk,  and  with  the 
pointed  end  first.  Consequently,  it  was  not  a  float 
simply,  but  a  float  and  sinker :  combined,  and  its 
effect  must  have  been  to  keep  the  animal  at  the 


224      THE  STOEY  OP  THE  EAETH  AND  MAN. 

bottom,  with  its  head  upward.  The  Belemnite  was 
therefore  an  exceptional  cuttle-fish,  intended  to 
stand  erect  on  the  sea-bottom  and  probably  to  dart 
upward  in  search  of  its  prey;  for  the  suckers  and 
hooks  with  which  its  arms  were  furnished  show 
that,  like  other  cuttle-fishes,  it  was  carnivorous  and 
predaceous.  The  guard  may  have  been  less  pon- 
derous when  recent  than  in  the  fossil  specimens, 
and  in  some  species  it  was  of  small  size  or  slender, 
and  in  others  it  was  hollow.  Possibly,  also,  the 
soft  tissues  of  the  animal  were  not  dense,  and  it 
may  have  had  swimming  fins  at  the  sides.  In  any 
case  they  must  have  been  active  creatures,  and 
no  doubt  could  dart  backward  by  expelling  water 
from  their  gill  chamber,  while  we  know  that  they 
had  ink-bags,  provided  with  that  wonderfully  di- 
vided pigment,  inimitable  by  art,  with  which  the 
modern  Sepia  darkens  the  water  to  shelter  itself 
from  its  enemies.  The  Belemnites  must  have 
swarmed  in  the  Mesozoic  seas ;  and  as  squids  and 
cuttles  now  afford  choice  morsels  to  the  larger 
fishes,  so  did  the  Belemnites  in  their  day.  There 
is  evidence  that  even  the  great  sea-lizards  did  not 
disdain  to  feed  on  them.  We  can  imagine  a  great 
shoal  of  these  creatures  darting  up  and  down, 
seizing  with  their  ten  hooked  arms  their  finny  or 
crustacean  prey.  In  an  instant  a  great  fish  or 
saurian  darts  down  among  them ;  they  blacken  the 
water  with  a  thick  cloud  of  inky  secretion  and 
disperse  on  all  sides,  while  their  enemy,  blindly 


THE    MESOZOIC   AGES.  225 

seizing  a  few  mouthful  s,  returns  sullenly  to  the 
surface.  A  great  number  of  species  of  Belemnites 
and  allied  animals  have  been  described;  but  it  is 
probable  that  in  naming  them  too  little  regard  has 
been  paid  to  distinctions  of  age  and  sex.  The 
Belemnites  were  for  the  most  part  small  creatures ; 
but  there  is  evidence  that  there  existed  with  them 
some  larger  and  more  formidable  cuttles ;  and  it 
is  worthy  of  note  that,  in  several  of  these,  the 
arms,  as  in  the  Belemnites,  were  furnished  with 
hooks  as  well  as  suckers,  an  exceptional  arrange- 
ment in  their  modern  allies.  It  is  probable  that 
while  the  four-gilled  or  shell-bearing  cuttles  culmi- 
nated in  size  and  perfection  in  the  Ammonitids  of 
the  Mesozoic,  the  modern  cuttles  of  the  two-gilled 
and  shell-less  type  are  grander  in  dimensions  than 
their  Mesozoic  predecessors.  It  is,  however,  not  a 
little  singular  that  a  group  so  peculiar  and  appar- 
ently so  well  provided  with  means,  both  of  offence 
and  defence,  as  the  Belemnites,  should  come  in  and 
go  out  with  the  Mesozoic,  and  that  the  Nautiloid 
group,  after  attaining  to  the  magnitude  and  com- 
plexity of  the  great  Ammonites,  should  retreat  to 
a  few  species  of  diminutive  and  simply-constructed 
Nautili ;  and  in  doing  so  should  return  to  one  of 
the  old  types  dating  as  far  back  as  the  older  Palae- 
ozoic, and  continuing  unchanged  through  all  the 
intervening  time. 

The   Crustaceans  of  the  Mesozoic  had  lost  all  the 
antique  peculiarities   of  the   older   time,  and  had  so 

11 


226      THE  STOEY  OF  THE  EAETH  AND  MAN. 

much  of  the  aspect  of  those  of  the  present  day, 
that  an  ordinary  observer,  if  he  could  be  shown  a 
quantity  of  Jurassic  or  Cretaceous  crabs,  lobsters, 
and  shrimps,  would  not  readily  recognise  the  differ- 
ence, which  did  not  exceed  what  occurs  in  distant 
geographical  regions  in  the  present  day.  The  same 
remark  may  be  made  as  to  the  corals  of  the 
Mesozoic ;  and  with  some  limitations,  as  to  the 
star-fishes  and  sea-urchins,  which  latter  are  espe- 
cially numerous  and  varied  in  the  Cretaceous  age. 
In  short,  all  the  invertebrate  forms  of  life,  and 
the  fishes  and  reptiles  among  the  vertebrates,  had 
already  attained  their  maximum  elevation  in  the 
Mesozoic;  and  some  of  them  have  subsequently 
sunk  considerably  in  absolute  as  well  as  relative 
importance. 

In  the  course  of  the  Mesozoic,  as  indicated  in  the 
last  chapter,  there  had  been  several  great  depressions 
and  re-elevations  of  the  Continental  Areas.  But  these 
had  been  of  the  same  quiet  and  partial  character  with 
those  of  the  Palaeozoic,  and  it  was  not  until  the  close 
of  the  Mesozoic  time,  in  the  Cretaceous  age,  that  a 
great  and  exceptional  subsidence  involved  for  a  long 
period  the  areas  of  our  present  continents  in  a  sub- 
mergence wider  and  deeper  than  any  that  had  pre- 
viously occurred  since  the  dry  land  first  rose  out  of 
the  waters. 

Every  one  knows  the  great  chalk  beds  which  ap- 
pear in  the  south  of  England,  and  which  have  given  its 
name  to  the  latest  age  of  the  Mesozoic.  This  great 


THE    MESOZOIC   AGES.  227 

deposit  of  light-coloured  and  usually  soft  calcareous 
matter  attains  in  some  places  to  the  enormous  thick- 
ness of  1,000  feet.  Nor  is  it  limited  in  extent. 
According  to  Lyell,  its  European  distribution  is  from 
Ireland  to  the  Crimea,  a  distance  of  1,140  geo- 
graphical miles;  and  from  the  south  of  France  to 
Sweden,  a  distance  of  840  geographical  miles.  Simi- 
lar rocks,  though  not  in  all  cases  of  the  precise  nature 
of  chalk,  occur  extensively  in  Asia  and  in  Africa,  and 
also  in  North  and  South  America. 

But  what  is  chalk  ?  It  was,  though  one  of  the  most 
familiar,  one  of  the  most  inscrutable  of  rocks,  until 
the  microscope  revealed  its  structure.  The  softer 
varieties,  gently  grated  or  kneaded  down  in  water,  or 
the  harder  varieties  cut  in  thin  slices,  show  a  con- 
geries of  microscopic  chambered  shells  belonging  to 
the  humble  and  simple  group  of  Protozoa.  These 
shells  and  their  fragments  constitute  the  material  of 
the  ordinary  chalk.  With  these  are  numerous  spicules 
of  sponges  and  silicious  cell- walls  of  the  minute  one- 
celled  plants  .  called  Diatoms.  Further,  the  flinty 
matter  of  these  organisms  has  by  the  law  of  molecular 
attraction  been  collected  into  concretions,  which  are 
the  flints  of  the  chalk.  Such  a  rock  is  necessarily 
oceanic ;  but  more  than  this,  it  is  abyssal.  Laborious 
dredging  has  shown  that  similar  matter  is  now  being 
formed  only  in  the  deep  bed  of  the  ocean,  whither  no 
sand  or  mud  is  drifted  from  the  land,  and  where  the 
countless  hosts  of  microscopic  shell-bearing  protozoa 
continually  drop  their  little  skeletons  on  the  bottom, 


228      THE  STOKY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

slowly  accumulating  a  chalky  mud  or  slime  That 
such  a  rock  should  occur  over  vast  areas  of  the  con- 
tinental plateaus,  that  both  in  Europe  and  America  it 
should  be  found  to  cover  the  tops  of  hills  several 
thousand  feet  high,  and  that  its  thickness  should 
amount  to  several  hundreds  of  feet,  are  facts  which 
evidence  a  revolution  more  stupendous  perhaps  than 
that  at  the  close  of  the  Palaeozoic.  For  the  first  time 
since  the  Laurentian,  the  great  continental  plateaus 
changed  places  with  the  abysses  of  the  ocean,  and  the 
successors  of  the  Laurentian  Eozoon  again  reigned  on 
surfaces  which  through  the  whole  lapse  of  Palaeozoic 
and  Mesozoic  time  had  been  separated  more  or  less 
from  that  deep  ocean  out  of  which  they  rose  at  first. 
This  great  Cretaceous  subsidence  was  different  from 
the  disturbances  of  the  Permian  age.  There  was  at 
first  no  crumpling  of  the  crust,  but  merely  a  slow 
and  long- continued  sinking  of  the  land  areas,  followed, 
however,  by  crumpling  of  the  most  stupendous  cha- 
racter, which  led  at  the  close  of  the  Cretaceous  and 
in  the  earlier  Tertiary  to  the  formation  of  what  are 
now  the  greatest  mountain  chains  in  the  world.  As 
examples  may  be  mentioned  the  Himalaya,  the 
Andes,  and  the  Alps,  on  all  which  the  deep-sea  beds 
of  the  Cretaceous  are  seen  a",  great  elevations.  IP 
Europe  this  depression  was  almost  universal,  only  very 
limited  areas  remaining  out  of  water.  In  America 
a  large  tract  remained  above  water  in  the  region  of 
fche  Appalachians.  This  gives  us  some  clue  to  the 
phenomena.  The  great  Permian  collapse  led  to  the 


THE    MESOZOTC   AGES.  229 

crumpling-up  of  the  Appalachians  and  the  Urals,  and 
the  older  hills  of  Western  Europe.  The  Cretaceous 
collapse  led  to  the  crumpling  of  the  great  N.W.  and 
S.E.  chain  of  the  Eocky  Mountains  and  Andes,  and 
to  that  of  the  east  and  west  chains  of  the  south  of 
Asia  and  Europe.  The  cause  was  probably  in  both 
cases  the  same ;  but  the  crust  gave  way  in  a  different 
part,  and  owing  to  this  there  was  a  greater  amount 
of  submergence  of  our  familiar  continental  plateaus 
in  the  Cretaceous  than  in  the  Permian. 

Another  remarkable  indication  of  the  nature  of  the 
Cretaceous  subsidence,  is  the  occurrence  of  beds  filled 
with  grains  of  the  mineral  Glauconite  or  "  green- 
sand."  These  grains  are  not  properly  sand,  but  little 
concretions,  which  form  in  the  bottom  of  the  deep  sea, 
often  filling  and  taking  casts  of  the  interior  and  fine 
tubes  of  Foraminiferal  shells.  Now  this  Glauconite, 
a  hydrous  silicate  of  iron  and  potash,  is  akin  to  similar 
materials  found  filling  the  pores  of  fossils  in  Silurian 
beds.  It  is  also  akin  to  the  Serpentine  filling  tho 
pores  of  Eozoon  in  the  Laurentian.  Such  materials 
are  formed  only  in  the  deeper  parts  of  the  ocean, 
and  apparently  most  abundantly  where  currents  of 
warm  water  are  flowing  at  the  surface,  as  in  the  area 
of  the  Gulf  Stream.  Thus,  not  only  in  the  prevalence 
of  Foraminifera,  but  in  the  formation  of  hydrous  sili- 
cates, does  the  Cretaceous  recall  the  Laurentian.  Such 
materials  had  no  doubt  been  forming,  and  such  animals 
living  in  the  ocean  depths,  all  through  the  intervening 
ages,  but  with  the  exception  of  a  few  and  merely 


230       THE  STOEY  OF  THU  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

local  instances,  we  know  nothing  of  them,  till  the 
great  subsidence  and  re-elevation  of  the  Cretaceous 
again  allows  them  to  ascend  to  the  continental 
plateaus,  and  again  introduces  us  to  this  branch  of 
the  world-making  process. 

The  attention  recently  drawn  to  these  facts  by  the 
researches  of  Dr.  Carpenter  and  others,  and  especially 
the  similarity  in  mineral  character  and  organic  re- 
mains of  some  of  the  deposits  now  forming  in  the 
Atlantic  and  those  of  the  chalk,  have  caused  it  to  be 
affirmed  that  in  the  bed  of  the  Atlantic  these  con- 
ditions of  life  and  deposit  have  continued  from  the 
Cretaceous  up  to  the  present  time,  or  as  it  has  been 
expressed,  that  te  we  are  still  living  in  the  Cretaceous 
epoch.""  Now,  this  is  true  or  false  just  as  we  apply 
the  statement.  We  have  seen  that  the  distinction  be- 
tween abyssal  areas,  continental  oceanic  plateaus,  and 
land  surfaces  has  extended  through  the  whole  lapse 
of  geological  time.  In  this  broad  sense  we  may  be 
said  to  be  still  living  in  the  Laurentian  epoch.  In 
other  words,  the  whole  plan  of  the  earth's  develop- 
ment is  one  and  the  same,  and  each  class  of  general 
condition  once  introduced  is  permanent  somewhere. 
But  in  another  important  sense  we  are  not  living  in 
the  Cretaceous  epoch;  otherwise  the  present  site  of 
London  would  be  a  thousand  fathoms  deep  in  the 
ocean ;  the  Ichthyosaurs  and  Ammonites  would  be  dis- 
porting themselves  in  the  water,  and  the  huge  Dino- 
saurs and  strange  Pterodactyls  living  on  the  land.  The 
Italian  peasant  is  still  in  many  important  points  living 


THE    MESOZOIC   AGES, 


231 


in  the  period  of  the  old  Roman  Empire.  The  Arab 
of  the  desert  remains  in  the  Patriarchal  period,  and 
there  are  some  tribes  not  yet  beyond  the  primitive  age 
of  stone.  But  the  world  moves,  nevertheless,  and  the 
era  of  Victoria  is  not  that  of  the  Plantagenets  or  of 
Julius  Cassar.  So  while  we  may  admit  that  certain  of 
the  conditions  of  the  Cretaceous  seas  still  prevail  in 
the  bed  of  the  present  ocean,  we  must  maintain  that 
nearly  all  else  is  changed,  and  that  the  very  existence 
of  the  partial  similarity  is  of  itself  the  most  con- 
clusive proof  of  the  general  want  of  resemblance,  and 
of  the  thorough  character  of  the  changes  which  have 
occurred. 

The  duration  of  the  Cretaceous  subsidence  must 
have  been  very  great.  We  do  not  know  the  rate 
at  which  the  Foraminifera  accumulate  calcareous  mud. 
In  some  places,  where  currents  heap  up  their  shells, 
they  may  be  gathered  rapidly ;  but  on  the  average  of 
the  ocean  bed,  afoot  of  such  material  must  indicate  the 
lapse  of  ages  very  long  when  compared  with  those  of 
modern  history.  We  need  not  wonder,  therefore,  that 
while  some  forms  of  deep-sea  Cretaceous  life,  especially 
of  the  lower  grades,  seem  to  have  continued  to  our 
time,  the  inhabitants  of  the  shallow  waters  and  the 
land  have  perished ;  and  that  the  Neozoic  or  Tertiary 
period  introduces  us  to  a  new  world  of  living  beings. 
I  say  we  need  not  wonder;  yet  there  is  no  reason 
why  we  should  expect  this  as  a  necessary  consequence. 
As  the  Cretaceous  deluge  rose  over  the  continents  of 
the  Mesozoic,  the  great  sea  saurians  might  have  fol« 


232       THE  STOEY  OP  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

lowed.  Those  of  the  land  might  have  retreated  to 
the  tracts  still  remaining  out  of  water,  and  when  the 
dry  land  again  appeared  in  the  earlier  Tertiary,  they 
might  again  have  replenished  the  earth,  and  we  might 
thus  have  truly  been  living  in  the  Reptilian  age  up  to 
this  day.  But  it  was  not  so.  The  old  world  again 
perished,  and  the  dawn  of  the  Tertiary  shows  to  us  at 
once  the  dynasties  of  the  Mammalian  age,  which  was 
to  culminate  in  the  introduction  of  man.  With  the 
great  Cretaceous  subsidence  the  curtain  falls  upon  the 
age  of  reptiles,  and  when  it  rises  again,  after  the  vast 
interval  occupied  in  the  deposition  of  the  greensand 
and  chalk,  the  scene  has  entirely  changed.  There 
are  new  mountains  and  new  plains,  forests  of  different 
type,  and  animals  such  as  no  previous  age  had 
seen. 

How  strange  and  inexplicable  is  this  perishing  of 
types  in  the  geological  ages !  Some  we  could  well 
spare.  We  would  not  wish  to  have  our  coasts  in- 
fested by  terrible  sea  saurians,  or  our  forests  by  car- 
nivorous Dinosaurs.  Yet  why  should  these  tyrants 
of  creation  so  utterly  disappear  without  waiting  for 
us  to  make  war  on  them  ?  Other  types  we  mourn. 
How  glorious  would  the  hundreds  of  species  of  Am- 
monites have  shone  in  the  cases  of  our  museums,  had 
they  still  lived !  What  images  of  beauty  would  they 
have  afforded  to  the  poets  who  have  made  so  much  of 
the  comparatively  humble  Nautilus  !  How  perfectly, 
too,  were  they  furnished  with  all  those  mechanical 
appliances  for  their  ocean  life,  which  are  bestowed 


THE    MESOZ01C   AGES.  233 

only  with  a  niggardly  hand  on  their  successors! 
Nature  gives  us  no  explanation  of  the  mystery. 

"  From  scarped  cliff  and  quarried  stone, 
She  cries — '  A  thousand  types  are  gone.'  n 

But  why  or  how  one  was  taken  and  another  left  she 
is  silent,  and  I  believe  must  continue  to  be  so,  because 
the  causes,  whether  efficient  or  final,  are  beyond  her 
sphere.  If  we  wish  for  a  full  explanation,  we  must 
leave  Nature,  and  ascend  to  the  higher  domain  of  the 
Spiritual. 

11* 


A\t9Aa  puB  'A'flu'Bpunq'B 


!}tj§no.iq 


qoitjM. 
o£>  pay  „ 


•sneSoxg; 
snoraaadsoiSay 

jo  98y 
jo  Sa 


•a   « 

o 
PUB  sajraorainy  jo  uoT^Jtifl 


«      o        o  .     w  ««  •-*  -2  o  «M  ^  ^ 


•oiozosaw 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE     NEOZOIC     AGES. 

BETWEEN  the  Mesozoic  and  the  next  succeeding  time. 
which  may  be  known  as  the  Neozoic  or  Tertiary,5* 
there  is  in  the  arrangements  of  most  geologists  a  great 
break  in  the  succession  of  life ;  and  undoubtedly  the 
widespread  and  deep  subsidence  of  the  Cretaceous, 
followed  by  the  elevation  of  land  on  a  great  scale  at 
the  beginning  of  the  next  period,  is  a  physical  cause 
sufficient  to  account  for  vast  life  changes.  Yet  we 
must  not  forget  to  consider  that  even  in  the  Cre- 
taceous itself  there  were  new  features  beginning  to 
appear.  Let  us  note  in  this  way,  in  the  first  place, 
the  introduction  of  the  familiar  generic  forms  of  exo- 
genous trees.  Next  we  may  mention  the  decided 
prevalence  of  the  modern  types  of  coral  animals  and  of 
a  great  number  of  modern  generic  forms  of  mollusks. 
Then  we  have  the  establishment  of  the  modern  tribes 
of  lobsters  and  crabs,  and  the  appearance  of  nearly  all 
the  orders  of  insects.  Among  vertebrates,  the  ordi- 
nary fishes  are  now  introduced.  Modern  orders  of 

*  The  former  name  is  related  to  Palaeozoic  and  Mesozoic,  the 
latter  to  the  older  terms  Primary  and  Secondary.  For  the 
sake  of  euphony  we  shall  use  both.  The  term  Neozoic  was 
proposed  by  Edward  Forbes  for  the  Mesozoic  and  Cainozoic 
combined ;  but  I  use  it  here  as  a  more  euphonious  and  accurate 
term  for  the  Cainozoic  alone. 


236       THE  STORY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

reptiles,  as  the  crocodiles  and  chelonians,  liad  already 
appeared,  and  the  first  mammals.  Henceforth  the 
progress  of  organic  nature  lies  chiefly  in  the  dropping 
of  many  Mesozoic  forms  and  in  the  introduction  of  the 
higher  tribes  of  mammals  and  of  man. 

It  is  further  to  be  observed  that  the  new  things 
introduced  in  the  later  Mesozoic  came  in  little  by  little 
in  the  progress  of  the  period,  and  anticipated  the  great 
physical  changes  occurring  at  its  close.  On  the  other 
hand,  while  many  family  and  even  generic  types  pass 
over  from  the  Mesozoic  to  the  earlier  Tertiary,  very 
few  species  do  so.  It  would  seem,  therefore,  as  if 
changes  of  species  were  more  strictly  subordinate  to 
physical  revolutions  than  were  changes  of  genera  and 
orders — these  last  overriding  under  different  specific 
forms  many  minor  vicissitudes,  and  only  in  part  being 
overwhelmed  in  the  grander  revolutions  of  the  earth. 

Both  in  Europe  and  America  there  is  evidence  of 
great  changes  of  level  at  the  beginning  of  the  Ter- 
tiary. In  the  west  of  Europe  beds  often  of  shallow- 
water  or  even  fresh-water  origin  fill  the  hollows  in 
the  bent  Cretaceous  strata.  This  is  manifestly  the 
case  with  the  formations  of  the  London  and  Paris 
basins,  contemporaneous  but  detached  deposits  of  the 
Tertiary  age,  lying  in  depressions  of  the  chalk.  Still 
this  does  not  imply  much  want  of  conformity,  and 
according  to  the  best  explorers  of  those  Alpine  regions 
in  which  both  the  Mesozoic  and  Tertiary  beds  have 
been  thrown  up  to  great  elevations,  they  are  in  the 
main  conformable  to  one  another.  Something  of  the 


THE   NEOZOIC   AGES.  237 

same  kind  occurs  in  America.  On  the  Atlantic  coast 
the  marine  beds  of  the  Older  Tertiary  cover  the  Creta- 
ceous, and  little  elevation  seems  to  have  occurred 
Farther  west  the  elevation  increases,  and  in  the  upper 
part  of  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi  it  amounts  to 
1700  feet.  Still  farther  west,  in  the  region  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  there  is  evidence  of  elevation  to  the 
extent  of  as  much  as  7000  feet.  Throughout  all  these 
regions  scarcely  any  disturbance  of  the  old  Cretaceous 
sea-bottom  seems  to  have  occurred  until  after  the 
deposition  of  the  older  Tertiary,  so  that  there  was  first 
a  slow  and  general  elevation  of  the  Cretaceous  ocean 
bottom,  succeeded  by  gigantic  folds  and  fractures,  and 
extensive  extravasations  of  the  bowels  of  the  earth  in 
molten  rocks,  in  the  course  of  the  succeeding  Tertiary 
age.  These  great  physical  changes  inaugurated  the 
new  and  higher  life  of  the  Tertiary,  just  as  the  similar 
changes  in  the  Permian  did  that  of  the  Mesozoic. 

The  beginning  of  these  movements  consisted  of  a 
great  and  gradual  elevation  of  the  northern  parts  of 
both  the  Old  and  New  Continents  out  of  the  sea, 
whereby  a  much  greater  land  surface  was  produced, 
and  such  changes  of  depth  and  direction  of  currents 
in  the  ocean  as  must  have  very  much  modified  the 
conditions  of  marine  life.  The  effect  of  all  these 
changes  in  the  aggregate  was  to  cause  a  more  varied 
and  variable  climate,  and  to  convert  vast  areas  pre- 
viously tenanted  by  marine  animals  into  the  abodes  of 
animals  and  plants  of  the  land,  and  of  estuaries,  lakes, 
and  shallow  waters.  Still,  however,  very  large  areas 


238  THE    S10BY    OF    THE    IJAKTH    AND    MAN. 

now  continental  were  under  the  sea.  As  the  Tertiary 
period  advanced,  these  latter  areas  were  elevated,  and 
in  many  cases  were  folded  up  into  high  mountains. 
This  produced  further  changes  of  climate  and  habitat 
of  animals,  and  finally  brought  our  continents  into  all 
the  variety  of  surface  which  they  now  present,  and 
which  fits  them  so  well  for  the  habitation  of  the  higher 
animals  and  of  man. 

The  thoughtful  reader  will  observe  that  it  follows 
from  the  above  statements  that  the  partial  distribu- 
tion and  diversity  in  different  localities  which  apply  to 
the  deposits  of  such  ages  as  the  Permian  and  the  Trias 
apply  also  to  the  earlier  Tertiary ;  and  as  the  conti- 
nents, notwithstanding  some  dips  under  water,  have 
retained  their  present  forms  since  the  beginning  of 
the  Tertiary,  it  follows  that  these  beds  are  more  defi- 
nitely related  to  existing  geographical  conditions  than 
are  those  of  the  older  periods,  and  that  the  more 
extensive  marine  deposits  of  the  Tertiary  are,  to  a 
great  extent,  unknown  to  us.  This  has  naturally  led 
to  some  difficulty  in  the  classification  of  Neozoic 
deposits — those  of  some  of  the  Tertiary  ages  being 
very  patchy  and  irregular,  while  others  spread  very 
widely.  In  consequence  of  this,  Sir  Charles  Lyell,  to 
whom  we  owe  very  much  of  our  definite  knowledge  of 
this  period,  has  proposed  a  subdivision  based  on  the 
percentage  of  recent  and  fossil  animals.  In  other 
words,  he  takes  it  for  granted  that  a  deposit  which 
contains  more  numerous  species  of  animals  still  living 
than  another,  may  be  judged  on  that  account  to  be 


THE   NEOZOIC   AGES.  239 

more  recent.  Such  a  mode  of  estimation  is,  no  doubt, 
to  some  extent  arbitrary;  but  in  the  main,  when  it 
can  be  tested  by  the  superposition  of  deposits,  it  has 
proved  itself  reliable.  Further,  it  brings  before  us 
this  remarkable  fact,  that  while  in  the  older  periods 
all  the  animals  whose  remains  we  find  are  extinct  as 
species,  so  soon  as  we  enter  on  the  Neozoic  we  find 
some  which  still  continue  to  our  time — at  first  only  a 
very  few,  but  in  later  and  later  beds  in  gradually 
increasing  percentage,  till  the  fossil  and  extinct  wholly 
disappear  in  the  recent  and  living. 

The  Lyellian  classification  of  the  Tertiary  will 
therefore  stand  as  in  the  following  table,  bearing  in 
mind  that  the  percentage  of  fossils  is  taken  from 
marine  forms,  and  mainly  from  mollusks,  and  that  the 
system  has  in  some  cases  been  modified  by  strati- 
graphical  evidence : — 

POST-PLIOCENE,  including  that  which  immediate- 
ly precedes  the  Modern.  In  this  the  shells, 
etc.,  are  recent,  the  Mammalia  in  part  ex- 
tinct. 

PLIOCENE,  or  more  recent  age.    In  this  the 


Tertiary,  or 


majority  of  shells  found  are  recent  in  the 


Neozoic  Time.\      upper  beds.     In  the  lower  beds  the  extinct 

become  predominant. 
MIOCENE,  or  less  recent.      In  this  the  large 

majority  of  shells  found  are  extinct. 
EOCENE,  the  dawn  of  the  recent.     In  this  only  a 

few  recent  shells  occur. 

If  we  attempt  to  divide  the  Tertiary  time  into  ages 
corresponding  to  those  of  the  older  times,  we  are  met 


240      THE  STORY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

by  the  difficulty  that  as  the  continents  have  retained 
their  present  forms  and  characters  to  a  great  extent 
throughout  this  time,  we  fail  to  find  those  evidences 
of  long- continued  submergences  of  the  whole  conti- 
nental plateaus,  or  very  large  portions  of  them,  which 
we  have  found  so  very  valuable  in  the  Palaeozoic  and 
Mesozoic.  In  the  Eocene,  however,  we  shall  discover 
one  very  instructive  case  in  the  great  Ninnmulitic 
Limestone.  In  the  Miocene  and  Pliocene  the  oscilla- 
tions seem  to  have  been  slight  and  partial.  In  the 
Post-pliocene  we  have  the  great  subsidence  of  the 
glacial  drift ;  but  that  seems  to  have  been  a  compara- 
tively rapid  dip,  though  of  long  duration  when  mea- 
sured by  human  history;  not  allowing  time  for  the 
formation  of  great  limestones,  but  only  of  fossiliferous 
sands  and  clays,  which  require  comparatively  short 
time  for  their  deposition  If  then  we  ask  as  to  the 
duration  of  the  Neozoic,  I  answer  that  we  have  not  a 
definite  measure  of  its  ages,  if  it  had  any ;  and  that  it 
is  possible  that  the  Neozoic  may  have  as  yet  had  but 
one  age,  which  closed  with  the  great  drift  period,  and 
that  we  are  now  only  in  the  beginning  of  its  second 
age.  Some  geologists,  impressed  with  this  compara- 
tive shortness  of  the  Tertiary,  connect  it  with  Meso- 
zoic, grouping  both  together.  This,  however,  is 
obviously  unnatural.  The  Mesozoic  time  certainly 
terminated  with  the  Cretaceous,  and  what  follows 
belongs  to  a  distinct  aeon. 

But  we  must  now  try  to  paint  the  character  of  this 
new  and  peculiar  time ;  and  this  may  perhaps  be  best 


THE    NEOZOIC   AGES.  241 

done  in  the  following  sketches:  1.  The  seas  of  the 
Eocene.  2.  Mammals  from  the  Eocene  to  the  Modern. 
3.  Tertiary  floras.  4.  The  Glacial  period.  5.  The 
Advent  of  Man. 

The  great  elevation  of  the  continents  which  closed 
the  Cretaceous  was  followed  by  a  partial  and  unequal 
subsidence,  affecting  principally  the  more  southern 
parts  of  the  land  of  the  noi'thern  hemisphere.  Thus, 
a  wide  sea  area  stretched  across  all  the  south  of 
Europe  and  Asia,  and  separated  the  northern  part  of 
North  America  from  what  of  land  existed  in  the 
southern  hemisphere.  This  is  the  age  of  the  great 
Nummulitic  Limestones  of  Europe,  Africa,  and  Asia, 
and  the  Orbitoidal  Limestones  of  North  America.  The 
names  are  derived  from  the  prevalence  of  certain 
forms  of  those  humble  shell-bearing  protozoa  which 
we  first  met  with  in  the  Laurentian,  and  which  we 
have  found  to  be  instrumental  in  building  up  the 
chalk,  the  Foraminifera  of  zoologists.  (Fig.  p.  243.) 
But  in  the  Eocene  the  species  of  the  chalk  were  re- 
placed by  certain  broad  flat  forms,  the  appearance  of 
which  is  expressed  by  the  term  nummulifce,  or  money- 
stone;  the  rock  appearing  to  be  made  up  of  fossils, 
somewhat  resembling  shillings,  sixpences,  or  three- 
penny pieces,  according  to  the  size  of  the  shells,  eacli 
of  which  includes  a  vast  number  of  small  concentric 
chambers,  which  during  life  were  filled  with  the  soft 
jelly  of  the  animal.  The  nummulite  limestone  was 
undoubtedly  oceanic,  and  the  other  shells  contained 
in  it  are  marine  species.  After  what  we  have  already 


242      THE  STOEY  OP  THE  EAETH  AND  MAN. 

seen  we  do  not  need  this  limestone  to  convince  us  of 
the  continent-building  pc  wers  of  the  oceanic  protozoa ; 
but  the  distribution  of  these  limestones,  and  the  ele- 
vation which  they  attain,  furnish  the  most  striking 
proofs  that  we  can  imagine  of  the  changes  which  the 
earth's  crust  has  undergone  in  times  geologically 
modern,  and  also  of  the  extreme  newness  of  man  and 
his  works.  Large  portions  of  those  countries  which 
constitute  the  earliest  seats  of  man  in  Southern  Europe, 
Northern  Africa,  and  Western  and  Southern  Asia, 
are  built  upon  the  old  nummulitic  sea-bottom.  The 
Egyptians  and  many  other  ancient  nations  quarried  it 
for  their  oldest  buildings.  In  some  of  these  regions  it 
attains  a  thickness  of  several  thousand  feet,  eviden- 
cing a  lapse  of  time  in  its  accumulation  equal  to  that 
implied  in  the  chalk  itself.  In  the  Swiss  Alps  it 
reaches  a  height  above  the  sea  of  10,000  feet,  and  it 
enters  largely  into  the  structure  of  the  Carpathians 
and  Pyrenees.  In  Thibet  it  has  been  observed  at  an 
elevation  of  16,500  feet  above  the  sea.  Thus  we  learn 
that  at  a  time  no  more  geologically  remote  than  the 
Eocene  Tertiary,  lands  now  of  this  great  elevation 
were  in  the  bottom  of  the  deep  sea;  and  this  not 
merely  for  a  little  time,  but  during  a  time  sufficient 
for  the  slow  accumulation  of  hundreds  of  feet  of  rock, 
made  up  of  the  shells  of  successive  generations  of 
animals.  If  geology  presented  to  us  no  other  revela- 
tion than  this  one  fact,  it  would  alone  constitute  one 
of  the  most  stupendous  pictures  in  physical  geography 
which  could  be  presented  to  the  imagination.  I  beg 


THE    NEOZOIC   AGES. 


243 


leave  here  to  present  to  the  reader  a  little  illustration 
of  the  limestone-making  Forarainifera  of  the  Creta- 


BOCK-BUII/DEBS. 


A.  Nummulites  laevigata—  Eocene. 

B.  The  same,  showing  chambered  interior. 

C.  Milioline  limestone,  magnified—  Eocene,  Paris. 

D.  Hard  Chalk,  section  magnified  —  Cretaceous. 

ceous  and  Eocene  seas.  In  the  middle  above  is  a 
numnmlite  of  the  natural  size.  Below  is  another, 
sliced  to  show  its  internal  chambers.  At  one  side  is  a 
magnified  section  of  the  common  building  stone  of 
Paris,  the  milioline  limestone  of  the  Eocene,  so  called 
from  its  immense  abundance  of  microscopic  shells  of 
tho  genus  Miliolina.  At  the  other  side  is  a  magnified 
section  of  one  of  the  harder  varieties  of  chalk,  ground 
so  thin  as  to  become  transparent,*  and  mounted  in 
Canada  balsam.  It  shows  many  microscopic  chain- 
*  A.S  for  instance  that  of  the  Giant's  Causeway,  Antrim. 


244  TMJi,    STORY   OP   THE   EAKTH   AND   MAN. 

bered  shells  of  Foraminifera.  These  may  serve  as 
illustrations  of  the  functions  of  these  humble  inhabi- 
tants of  the  sea  as  accumulators  of  calcareous  matter. 
It  is  further  interesting  to  remark  that  some  of  the 
beds  of  nummulitic  limestone  are  so  completely  filled 
with  these  shells,  that  we  might  from  detached  speci- 
mens suppose  that  they  belonged  to  sea-bottoms 
whereon  no  other  form  of  life  was  present.  Yet  some 
beds  of  this  age  are  remarkably  rich  in  other  fossils. 
Lyell  states  that  as  many  as  six  hundred  species  of 
shells  have  been  found  in  the  principal  limestone  of 
the  Paris  basin  alone;  and  the  lower  Eocene  beds 
afford  remains  of  fishes,  of  reptiles,  of  birds,  and  of 
mammals.  Among  the  latter  are  the  bones  of  gigan- 
tic whales,  of  which  one  of  the  most  remarkable  is  the 
Zeuglodon  of  Alabama,  a  creature  sometimes  seventy 
feet  in  length,  and  which  replaces  in  the  Tertiary  the 
great  Elasmosaurs  and  Ichthyosaurs  of  the  Mesozoic, 
marking  the  advent,  even  in  the  sea,  of  the  age  of 
Mammals  as  distinguished  from  the  age  of  Reptiles. 

This  fact  leads  us  naturally  to  consider  in  the  second 
place  the  mammalia,  and  other  land  animals  of  the 
Tertiary.  Ai  the  beginning  of  the  period  we  meet 
with  that  higher  group  of  mammals,  not  pouched, 
which  now  prevails.  Among  the  oldest  of  these 
Tertiary  beasts  are  Coryplwdon,  an  animal  related  to 
the  Modern  Tapirs,  and  Arctocyon,  a  creature  related 
to  the  bears  and  racoons.  These  animals  represent 
respectively  the  Pachyderms,  or  thick-skinned  mam- 
mals,, and  the  ordinary  Carnivora.  Contemporary  with 


THE    NEOZOIC   AGES.  245 

or  shortly  succeeding  these,  were  species  representing 
the  Rodents,  or  gnawing  animals,  and  many  other 
creatures  of  the  group  Pachydermata,  allied  to  the 
Modern  Tapirs  and  Hogs,  as  well  as  several  additional 
carnivorous  quadrupeds.  Thus  at  the  very  beginning 
of  the  Tertiary  period  we  enter  on  the  age  of  mammals, 
It  may  be  well,  however,  to  take  these  animals  some- 
what in  chronological  order. 

If  the  old  Egyptian,  by  quarrying  the  nummulite 
limestone,  bore  unconscious  testimony  to  the  recent 
origin  of  man  (whose  remains  are  wholly  absent  from 
the  Tertiary  deposits),  so  did  the  ancient  Britons  and 
Gauls,  when  they  laid  the  first  rude  foundations  of 
future  capitals  on  the  banks  of  the  Thames  and  of 
the  Seine.  Both  cities  lie  in  basins  of  Eocene  Tertiary, 
occupying  hollows  in  the  chalk.  Under  London  there 
is  principally  a  thick  bed  of  clay,  the  "  London  clay/' 
attaining  a  thickness  of  five  hundred  feet.  This  bed 
is  obviously  marine,  containing  numerous  species  of 
sea  shells ;  but  it  must  have  been  deposited  near  land, 
as  it  also  holds  many  fossil  fruits  and  other  remains  of 
plants  to  which  we  shall  refer  in  the  sequel,  and  the 
bones  of  several  species  of  large  animals.  Among 
these  the  old  reptiles  of  the  Mesozoic  are  repre- 
sented by  the  vertebrae  of  a  supposed  "sea  snake " 
(Palasophis)  thirteen  feet  long,  and  species  of  crocodile 
allied  both  to  the  alligators  and  the  gavials.  But  be- 
sides these  there  are  bones  of  several  animals  allied 
to  the  hog  and  tapir,  and  also  a  species  of  opossum, 
These  remains  must  be  drift  carcases  from  neighbour- 


246       THE  STORY  OF  THE  EAETH  AND  MAN. 

ing  shores,  and  they  show  first  the  elevation  of  tho  old 
deep-sea  bottom  represented  by  the  chalk,  so  that  part 
of  it  became  dry  land ;  next,  the  peopling  of  that  land 
by  tribes  of  animals  and  plants  unknown  to  the  Meso- 
zoic ;  and  lastly,  that  a  warm  climate  must  have  existed, 
enabling  England  at  this  time  to  support  many  types 
of  animals  and  plants  now  proper  to  intertropical 
regions.  As  Lyell  well  remarks,  it  is  most  interesting 
to  observe  that  these  beds  belong  to  the  beginning 
of  the  Tertiary,  that  they  are  older  than  those  great 
nummulite  limestones  to  which  we  have  referred,  and 
that  they  are  older  than  the  principal  mountain  chains 
of  Europe  and  Asia.  They  show  that  no  sooner  was 
the  Cretaceous  sea  dried  from  off  the  new  land,  than 
there  were  abundance  of  animals  and  plants  ready  to 
occupy  it,  and  these  not  the  survivors  of  the  flora  and 
fauna  of  the  Wealden,  but  a  new  creation.  The  men- 
tion of  the  deposit  last  named  places  this  in  a  striking 
light.  We  have  seen  that  the  Wealden  beds,  under 
the  chalk,  represent  a  Mesozoic  estuary,  and  in  it  we 
have  the  remains  of  the  animals  and  plants  of  the  laud 
that  then  was.  The  great  Cretaceous  subsidence  inter- 
vened, and  in  the  London  clay  we  have  an  estuary  of 
the  Eocene.  But  if  we  pass  through  the  galleries  of 
a  museum  where  these  formations  are  represented, 
though  we  know  that  both  existed  in  the  same  locality 
under  a  warm  climate,  we  see  that  they  belong  to  two 
different  worlds,  the  one  to  that  of  the  Dinosaurs,  the 
Ammonites,  the  Cycads,  and  the  minute  Marsupials  of 
the  Mesozoic,  the  other  to  that  of  the  Pachyderms,  the 
Palms,  and  the  Nautili  of  the  Tertiary. 


THE    NEOZOIC    AGES.  247 

The  London  clay  is  lower  Eocene;  but  in  the  beds 
of  the  Isle  of  Wight  and  neighbouring  parts  of  the 
South  of  England,  we  have  the  middle  and  upper  mem- 
bers of  the  series.  They  are  not,  however,  so  largely 
developed  as  in  the  Paris  basin,  where,  resting  on  the 
equivalent  of  the  London  clay,  we  have  a  thick  marine 
limestone,  the  Calcaire  Grossier,  abounding  in  marine 
remains,  and  in  some  beds  composed  of  shells  of 
foraminifera.  The  sea  in  which  this  limestone  was  de- 
posited, a  portion  no  doubt  of  the  great  Atlantic  area 
of  the  period,  became  shallow,  so  that  beds  of  sand 
succeeded  those  of  limestone,  and  finally  it  was  dried 
up  into  lake  basins,  in  which  gypsum,  magnesian  sedi- 
ments, and  siliceous  limestone  were  deposited.  These 
lakes  or  ponds  must  at  some  period  have  resembled 
the  American  "  salt-licks,"  and  were  no  doubt  resorted 
to  by  animals  from  all  the  surrounding  country  in 
search  of  the  saline  mud  and  water  which  they  afforded. 
Hence  in  some  marly  beds  intervening  between  the 
layers  of  gypsum,  numerous  footprints  occur,  exactly 
like  those  already  noticed  in  the  Trias.  Had  there 
been  a  Nimrod  in  those  days  to  watch  with  bow  or 
boomerang  by  the  muddy  shore,  he  would  have  seen 
herds  of  heavy  short-legged  and  three-hoofed  monsters 
(Palseotherium),  with  large  heads  and  long  snouts/ 
probably  scantily  covered  with  sleek  hair,  and  closely 
resembling  the  Modern  Tapirs  of  South  America  and 
India,  laboriously  wading  through  the  mud,  and 
grunting  with  indolent  delight  as  they  rolled  them- 
selves in  the  cool  saline  slime.  Others  more  1'ght  and 


248  THE    STORY   OF   THE    EAfrTH   AND    MAW. 

graceful,  combining  some  features  of  the  antelope  with 
those  of  the  Tapir  (Anoplotherium)  ran  in  herds  over 
the  drier  ridges,  or  sometimes  timidly  approached  the 
treacherous  clay,  tempted  by  the  saline  waters.  Other 
creatures  representing  the  Modern  Damans  or  Conies 
— "  feeble  folk  "  which,  with  the  aspect  of  hares,  have 
the  structure  of  Pachyderms — were  also  present. 
Creatures  of  these  types  constituted  the  great  majority 
of  the  animals  of  the  Parisian  Eocene  lakes ;  but  there 
were  also  Carnivorous  animals  allied  to  the  hyaena, 
the  wolf,  and  the  opossum,  which  prowled  along  the 
shores  by  night  to  seize  unwary  wanderers,  or  to  prey 
on  the  carcases  of  animals  mired  in  the  sloughs. 
Wading  birds  equal  in  size  to  the  ostrich  also  stalked 
through  the  shallows,  and  tortoises  crawled  over  the 
mud. 

Lyell  mentions  the  discovery  of  some  bones  of  one 
of  these  gigantic  birds  (Gastornis)  in  a  bed  of  the 
rolled  chalk  flints  which  form  the  base  of  the  Paris 
series,  resting  immediately  on  the  chalk;  one  of  the 
first  inhabitants  perhaps  to  people  some  island  of 
chalk  just  emerged  from  the  waters,  and  under  which 
lay  the  bones  of  the  mighty  Dinosaurs,  and  in  which 
were  embedded  those  of  sea  birds  that  had  ranged, 
like  the  albatross  and  petrel,  over  the  wide  expanse 
of  the  Cretaceous  ocean.  These  waders,  however,  like 
the  tortoises  and  crocodiles  and  small  marsupial 
mammals,  form  a  link  of  connection  in  type  at  least 
between  the  Eocene  and  the  Cretaceous,  for  bones  of 
wading  birds  have  been  found  in  the  Greensands 


THE   NEOZOIC    AGES.  249 

indicating   their   existence  before    the    close    of    the 
Mesozoic. 

The  researches  of  Baron  Cuvier  in  the  bones  col- 
lected in  the  quarries  of  Montmartre  were  regarded  as 
an  astonishing  triumph  of  comparative  anatomy ;  and 
familiar  as  we  now  are  with  similar  and  yet  more  dif- 
ficult achievements,  we  can  yet  afford  to  regard  with 
admiration  the  work  of  the  great  French  naturalist 
as  it  is  recorded  in  its  collected  form  in  his  "  Re- 
cherches  sur  les  Ossemens  Fossiles,"  published  in 
1812.  His  clear  and  philosophical  views  as  to  the 
plan  perceptible  in  nature,  his  admirable  powers  of 
classification,  his  acute  perception  of  the  correlation 
of  parts  in  animals,  his  nice  discrimination  of  the 
resemblances  and  differences  of  fossil  and  recent 
structures,  and  of  the  uses  of  these, — all  mark  him 
as  one  of  the  greatest  minds  ever  devoted  to  the 
study  of  natural  science.  It  is  obvious,  that  had 
his  intellect  been  occupied  by  the  evolutionist  meta- 
physics which  pass  for  natural  science  with  too  many 
in  our  day,  he  would  have  effected  comparatively 
little ;  and  instead  of  the  magnificent  museum  in  the 
"  Regne  Animal "  and  the  "  Ossemens  Fossiles,"  we 
might  have  had  wearisome  speculations  on  the  de- 
rivation of  species.  It  is  reason  for  profound  thank- 
fulness that  it  was  not  so;  and  also  that  so  many 
great  observers  and  thinkers  of  our  day,  like  Sedg- 
wick,  Murchison,  Lyell,  Owen,  Dana,  and  Agassiz, 
have  been  allowed  to  work  out  their  researches  almost 
to  completion  before  the  advent  of  those  poisoned 

12 


250      THE  STOEY  OP  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

streams  and  mephitic  vapours  which  threaten  the 
intellectual  obscuration  of  those  who  should  be  their 
successors. 

If  we  pass  from  the  Eocene  to  the  Miocene,  still 
confining  ourselves  mainly  to  mammalian  life,  we  find 
three  remarkable  points  of  difference — (1)  Whereaa 
the  Eocene  mammals  are  remarkable  for  adherence  to 
one  general  type,  viz.,  that  group  of  pachyderms  most 
regular  and  complete  in  its  dentition,  we  now  find  a 
great  number  of  more  specialised  and  peculiar  forms ; 
(2)  We  find  in  the  latter  period  a  far  greater  propor- 
tion of  large  carnivorous  animals ;  (3)  We  find  much 
greater  variety  of  mammals  than  either  in  the  Eocene 
or  the  Modern,  and  a  remarkable  abundance  of  species 
of  gigantic  size.  The  Miocene  is  thus  apparently  the 
culminating  age  of  the  mammalia,  in  so  far  as  physical 
development  is  concerned ;  and  this,  as  we  shall  find, 
accords  with  its  remarkably  genial  climate  and  exu- 
berant vegetation. 

In  Europe,  the  beds  of  this  age  present,  for  the 
first  time,  examples  of  the  monkeys,  represented  by 
two  generic  types,  both  of  them  apparently  related 
to  the  modern  long-armed  species,  or  Gibbons. 
Among  carnivorous  animals  we  have  cat-like  crea- 
tures, one  of  which  is  the  terrible  Machairodus,  dis- 
tinguished from  all  modern  animals  of  its  group  by 
the  long  sabre-shaped  canines  of  its  upper  jaw,  fitting 
it  to  pull  down  and  destroy  those  large  pachyderms 
which  could  have  easily  shaken  off  a  lion  or  a  tiger. 
Here  also  we  have  the  elephants,  represented  by 


THE    NEOZOIC   AGES.  251 

several  species  now  extinct;  the  mastodon,  a  great, 
coarsely-built,  hog-like  elephant,  some  species  of 
which  had  tusks  both  in  the  upper  and  lower  jaw; 
the  rhinoceros,  the  hippopotamus,  and  the  horse,  all 
of  extinct  species.  We  have  also  giraffes,  stags,  and 
antelopes,  the  first  ruminants  known  to  us,  and  a 
great  variety  of  smaller  and  less  noteworthy  crea- 
tures. Here  also,  for  the  first  time,  we  find  the 
curious  and  exceptional  group  of  Edentates,  repre- 
sented by  a  large  ant-eater.  Of  all  the  animals  of 
the  European  Miocene,  the  most  wonderful  and  un- 
like any  modern  beast,  is  the  Dinotherium,  found  in 
the  Miocene  of  Epplesheim  in  Germany;  and  de- 
scribed by  Kaup.  Some  doubt  rests  on  the  form 
and  affinities  of  the  animal ;  but  we  may  reasonably 
take  it,  as  restored  by  its  describer,  and  currently 
reproduced  in  popular  books,  to  have  been  a  quad- 
ruped of  somewhat  elephantine  form.  Some  years 
ago,  however,  a  huge  haunch  bone,  supposed  to  be- 
long to  this  creature,  was  discovered  in  the  South  of 
France ;  and  from  this  it  was  inferred  that  the 
Dinothere  may  have  been  a  marsupial  or  pouched 
animal,  perhaps  allied  in  form  and  habits  to  the 
kangaroos.  The  skull  is  three  feet  four  inches  in 
length;  and  when  provided  with  its  soft  parts,  in- 
cluding a  snout  or  trunk  in  front,  it  must  have  been 
at  least  five  or  six  feet  long.  Such  a  head,  if  it 
belonged  to  a  quadruped  of  ordinary  proportions, 
must  represent  an  animal  as  large  in  proportion  to 
our  elephant  as  an  elephant  to  an  ox.  But  its  size 


252       THE  STOKY  OF  THE  EAETH  AND  MAN. 

is  not  its  most  remarkable  feature.  It  has  two  large 
tusks  firmly  implanted  in  strong  bony  sockets;  but 
they  are  attached  to  the  end  of  the  lower  jaw  and 
point  downward  at  right  angles  to  it,  so  that  the 
lower  jaw  forms  a  sort  of  double-pointed  pickaxe  of 
great  size  and  strength.  This  might  have  been  used 
as  a  weapon;  or,  if  the  creature  was  aquatic,  as  a 
grappling  iron  to  hold  by  the  bank,  or  by  floating 
timber;  but  more  probably  it  was  a  grubbing-hoe 
for  digging  up  roots  or  loosening  the  bases  of  trees 
which  the  animal  might  afterward  pull  down  to  devour 
them.  However  this  may  be,  the  creature  laboured 
under  the  mechanical  disadvantage  of  having  to  lift 
an  immense  weight  in  the  process  of  mastication,  and 
of  being  unable  to  bring  its  mouth  to  the  ground,  or 
to  bite  or  grasp  anything  with  the  front  of  its  jaws. 
To  make  up  for  this,  it  had  muscles  of  enormous 
power  on  the  sides  of  the  head  attached  to  great 
projecting  processes ;  and  it  had  a  thick  but  flexible 
proboscis,  to  place  in  its  mouth  the  food  grubbed  up 
by  ifcs  tusks.  Taken  altogether,  the  Dinothere  is  per- 
haps the  most  remarkable  of  mammals,  fossil  or  re- 
cent ;  and  if  the  rest  of  its  frame  were  as  extraordi- 
nary as  its  skull,  we  have  probably  as  yet  but  a  faint 
conception  of  its  peculiarities.  We  may  apply  to  it, 
with  added  force,  the  admiring  ejaculation  of  Job, 
when  he  describes  the  strength  of  the  hippopotamus, 
"  He  is  the  chief  of  the  ways  of  God.  He  who  made 
him,  gave  him  his  sword/' 

In  Asia,  the  Siwalik  hills  afforded  to  Falconer  and 


254      THE  STOEY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

Cautley  one  of  the  most  remarkable  exhibitions  of 
Miocene  animals  in  the  world.  These  hills  form  a 
ridge  subordinate  to  the  Himalayan  chain;  and  rise 
to  a  height  of  2,000  to  3,000  feet.  In  the  Miocene 
period,  they  were  sandy  and  pebbly  shores  and  banks 
lying  at  the  foot  of  the  then  infant  Himalayas,  which, 
with  the  table -lands  to  the  north,  probably  formed  a 
somewhat  narrow  east  and  west  continental  mass  or 
large  island.  As  a  mere  example  of  the  marvellous 
fauna  which  inhabited  this  Miocene  land,  it  has 
afforded  remains  of  seven  species  of  elephants,  masto- 
dons, and  allied  animals ;  one  of  them,  the  E.  Ganesa, 
with  tusks  ten  feet  and  a  half  long,  and  twenty- six 
inches  in  circumference  at  the  base.  Besides  these 
there  are  five  species  of  rhinoceros,  three  of  horse 
and  allied  animals,  four  or  more  of  hippopotamus, 
and  species  of  camel,  giraffe,  antelope,  sheep,  ox,  and 
many  other  genera,  as  well  as  numerous  large  and 
formidable  beasts  of  prey.  There  is  also  an  ostrich ; 
and,  among  other  reptiles,  a  tortoise  having  a  shell 
twelve  feet  in  length,  and  this  huge  roof  must  have 
covered  an  animal  eighteen  feet  long  and  seven  feet 
high.  Among  the  more  remarkable  of  the  Siwalik 
animals  is  the  Sivatherium,  a  gigantic  four-horned 
antelope  or  deer,  supposed  to  have  been  of  elephantine 
size,  and  of  great  power  and  swiftness;  and  to 
have  presented  features  connecting  the  ruminants 
and  pachyderms.  Our  restoration  of  this  creature 
is  to  some  extent  conjectural;  and  a  remarkably 
artisti  c,  and  probably  more  accurate,  restoration  of  the 


THE    NEOZOIC    AGES.  255 

animal  has  recently  been  published  by  Dr.  Murie,  in 
the  Geological  Magazine.  We  justly  regard  the 
Mammalian  fauna  of  modern  India  as  one  of  the 
noblest  in  the  world ;  but  it  is  paltry  in  comparison 
with  that  of  the  much  more  limited  Miocene  India; 
even  if  we  suppose,  contrary  to  all  probability,  that 
we  know  most  of  the  animals  of  the  latter.  But  if 
we  consider  the  likelihood  that  we  do  not  yet  know  a 
tenth  of  the  Miocene  animals,  the  contrast  becomes 
vastly  greater. 

Miocene  America  is  scarcely  behind  the  Old  World 
in  the  development  of  its  land  animals.  From  one 
locality  in  Nebraska,  Leidy  described  in  1852  fifteen 
species  of  large  quadrupeds ;  and  the  number  has 
since  been  considerably  increased.  Among  these  are 
species  of  Ehinoceros,  Pala3otherium,  and  Machairo- 
dus;  and  one. animal,  the  Titan  otherium,  allied  to  the 
European  Anoplothere,  is  said  to  have  attained  a 
length  of  eighteen  feet  and  a  height  of  nine,  its 
jaws  alone  being  five  feet  long. 

In  the  illustration,  I  have  grouped  some  of  the 
characteristic  Mammalian  forms  of  the  Miocene,  as 
we  can  restore  them  from  their  scattered  bones, 
more  or  less  conjecturally ;  but  could  we  have  seen 
them  march  before  us  in  all  their  majesty,  like  the 
Edenic  animals  before  Adam,  I  feel  persuaded  that 
our  impressions  of  this  wonderful  age  would  have 
far  exceeded  anything  that  we  can  derive  either 
from  words  or  illustrations.  I  insist  on  this  the 
more  that  the  Miocene  happens  to  be  very  slenderly 


256      THE  STORY  OP  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

represented  in  Britain;  and  scarcely  at  all  in  north- 
eastern  America;  and  hence  has  not  impressed  the 
imagination  of  the  English  race  so  strongly  as  its 
importance  justifies. 

The  next  succeeding  period,,  that  of  the  Pliocene, 
continues  the  conditions  of  the  last,  but  with  signs 
of  decadence.  Many  of  the  old  gigantic  pachyderms 
have  disappeared ;  and  in  their  stead  some  familiar 
modern  genera  were  introduced.  The  Pliocene  was 
terminated  by  the  cold  or  glacial  period,  in  which  a 
remarkable  lowering  of  temperature  occurred  over  all 
the  northern  hemisphere,  accompanied,  at  least  in  a 
portion  of  the  time,  by  a  very  general  and  great 
subsidence,  which  laid  all  the  lower  parts  of  our 
continents  under  water.  This  terminated  much  of 
the  life  of  the  Pliocene,  and  replaced  it  with  boreal 
and  Arctic  forms,  some  of  them,  like  the  great  hairy 
Siberian  mammoth  and  the  woolly  rhinoceros,  fit 
successors  of  the  gigantic  Miocene  fauna.  How  it 
happened  that  such  creatures  were  continued  during 
the  Post-pliocene  cold,  we  cannot  understand  till  we 
have  the  Tertiary  vegetation  before  us.  It  must 
suffice  now  to  say,  that  as  the  temperature  was 
modified,  and  the  land  rose,  and  the  Modern  period 
was  inaugurated,  these  animals  passed  away,  and 
those  of  the  present  time  remained. 

Perhaps  the  most  remarkable  fact  connected  with 
this  change,  is  that  stated  by  Pictet,  that  all  the 
modern  European  mammals  are  direct  descendants 
of  Post-pliocene  species;  but  that  in  the  Post-plio- 


THE    NEOZOIC   AGES.  257 

cene  they  were  associated  with  many  other  species; 
and  these,  often  of  great  dimensions,  now  extinct. 
In  other  words,  the  time  from  the  Pliocene  to  the 
Modern,  has  been  a  time  of  diminution  of  species, 
while  that  from  the  Eocene  to  the  Miocene  was  a 
time  of  rapid  introduction  of  new  species.  Thus  the 
Tertiary  fauna  culminated  in  the  Miocene.  Yet, 
strange  though  this  may  appear,  Man  himself,  the 
latest  and  noblest  of  all,  would  seem  to  have  been  a 
product  of  the  later  stages  of  the  time  of  decadence. 
I  propose,  however,  to  return  to  the  animals  imme- 
diately preceding  man  and  his  contemporaries,  after 
we  have  noticed  the  Tertiary  flora  and  the  Glacial 
period. 

12* 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE  NEOZOIC  AGES — (continued). 

PLANT-LIFE  in  the  Tertiary  approaches  very  nearly  to 
that  of  the  Modern  World,  in  so  far  as  its  leading 
types  are  concerned ;  but  in  its  distribution  geographi- 
cally it  was  wonderfully  different  from  that  with  which 
we  are  at  present  familiar.  For  example,  in  the  Isle 
of  Sheppey,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Thames,  are  beds  of 
' '  London  clay,"  fall  of  fossil  nuts ;  and  these,  instead 
of  being  hazel  nuts  and  acorns,  belong  to  palms  allied 
to  species  now  found  in  the  Philippine  Islands  and 
Bengal,  while  with  them  are  numerous  cone-like  fruits 
belonging  to  the  Proteaceae  (banksias,  silver-trees, 
wagenbooms,  etc.),  a  group  of  trees  now  confined  to 
Australia  and  South  Africa,  but  which  in  the  Northern 
Hemisphere  had  already,  as  stated  in  a  previous  paper, 
made  their  appearance  in  the  Cretaceous,  and  were 
abundant  in  the  Eocene.  The  state  of  preservation 
of  these  fruits  shows  that  they  were  not  drifted  far ; 
and  in  some  beds  in  Hampshire,  also  of  Eocene  age, 
the  leaves  of  similar  plants  occur  along  with  species  of 
fig,  cinnamon,  and  other  forms  equally  Australian  or 
Indian.  In  America,  especially  in  the  west,  there  are 
thick  and  widely-distributed  beds  of  lignite  or  imper- 
fect coal  of  the  Eocene  period;  but  the  plants  found 


THE    NEOZOIC    AGES.  259 

in  the  American  Eocene  are  more  like  those  of  the 
European  Miocene  or  the  Modern  American  flora,  a  fact 
to  which  we  must  revert  immediately. 

In  Europe,  while  the  Eocene  plants  resemble  those 
of  Australia,  when  we  ascend  into  the  Miocene  they 
resemble  those  of  America,  though  still  retaining 
some  of  the  Australian  forms.  In  the  leaf-beds  of 
the  Isle  of  Mull, — where  beds  of  vegetable  mould  and 
leaves  were  covered  up  with  the  erupted  matter  of  a 
volcano  belonging  to  a  great  series  of  such  eruptions 
which  produced  the  basaltic  cliffs  of  Antrim  and  of 
Staffa, — and  at  Bovey,  in  Devonshire,  where  Miocene 
plants  have  accumulated  in  many  thick  beds  of  lignite, 
the  prevailing  plants  are  sequoias  or  red- woods,  vines, 
figs,  cinnamons,  etc.  In  the  sandstones  at  the  base 
of  the  Alps  similar  plants  and  also  palms  of  American 
types  occur.  In  the  Upper  Miocene  beds  of  (Eningen 
in  the  Ehine  valley,  nearly  fi,ve  hundred  species  of 
plants  have  been  found,  and  include  such  familiar 
forms  as  the  maples,  plane-trees,  cypress,  elm,  and 
sweet-gum,  more  American,  however,  than  European 
in  their  aspect.  It  thus  appears  that  the  Miocene 
flora  of  Europe  resembles  that  of  America  at  pre 
sent,  while  the  Eocene  flora  of  Europe  resembles 
that  of  Australia,  and  the  Eocene  flora  of  America, 
as  well  as  the  modern,  resembles  the  Miocene  of 
Europe.  In  other  words,  the  changes  of  the  flora 
have  been  more  rapid  in  Europe  than  in  America  and 
probably  slowest  of  all  in  Australia.  The  Eastern 
Continent  has  thus  taken  the  lead  in  rapidity  of 


260  THE    STORl    OF    THE    EAETH    AND   MAtt. 

change  in  the  Tertiary  period,  and  it  has  done  so  in 
animals  as  well  as  in  plants. 

The  following  description  of  the  flora  of  Bovey  ia 
given,  with  slight  alteration,  in  the  words  of  Dr. 
Heer,  in  his  memoir  on  that  district.  The  woods 
that  covered  the  slopes  consisted  mainly  of  a  huge 
pine-tree  (sequoia),  whose  figure  resembled  in  all 
probability  its  highly-admired  cousin,  the  giant 
Wellingtonia  of  California.  The  leafy  trees  of  most 
frequent  occurrence  were  the  cinnamon  and  an  ever- 
green oak  like  those  now  seen  in  Mexico.  The  ever- 
green figs,  the  custard  apples,  and  allies  of  the  Cape 
jasmine,  were  rarer.  The  trees  were  festooned  with 
vines,  beside  which  the  prickly  rotang  palm  twined 
its  snake-like  form.  In  the  shade  of  the  forest  throve 
numerous  ferns,  one  species  of  which  formed  trees  of 
imposing  grandeur,  and  there  were  masses  of  under- 
wood belonging  to  various  species  of  Nyssa,  like  the 
tupelos  and  sour-gums  of  North  America.  This  is  a 
true  picture,  based  on  actual  facts,  of  the  vegetation 
of  England  in  the  Miocene  age. 

But  all  the  other  wonders  of  the  Miocene  flora  are 
thrown  into  the  shade  by  the  discoveries  of  plants  of 
this  age  which  have  recently  been  made  in  Greenland, 
a  region  now  bound  up  in  what  we  poetically  call 
eternal  ice,  but  which  in  the  Miocene  was  a  fair  and 
verdant  land,  rejoicing  in  a  mild  climate  and  rich 
vegetation.  The  beds  containing  these  specimens 
occur  in  various  places  in  North  Greenland ;  and  the 
principal  locality,  Atane-Kerdluk,  is  in  lat.  70  N.j 


THE   NEOZOIC   AGES.  261 

and  afc  an  elevation  of  more  than  a  thousand  feet  above 
the  sea.  The  plants  occur  abundantly  in  sandstone 
and  clay  beds^  and  the  manner  in  which  delicate  leaves 
and  fruits  are  preserved  shows  that  they  have  not  been 
far  water-borne,  a  conclusion  which  is  confirmed  by 
the  occurrence  of  beds  of  lignite  of  considerable  thick- 
ness, and  which  are  evidently  peaty  accumulations 
containing  trunks  of  trees.  The  collections  made 
have  enabled  Heer  to  catalogue  137  species,  all  of 
them  of  forms  proper  to  temperate,  or  even  warm 
regions,  and  mostly  American  in  character.  As 
many  as  forty-six  of  the  species  already  referred  to  as 
occurring  at  Bovey  Tracey  and  (Eningen  occur  also 
in  the  Greenland  beds.  Among  the  plants  are  many 
species  of  pines,  some  of  them  of  large  size ;  and  the 
beeches,  oaks,  planes,  poplars,  maples,  walnuts,  limes, 
magnolias,  and  vines  are  apparently  as  well  repre- 
sented as  in  the  warm  temperate  zone  of  America  &, 
the  present  day.  This  wonderful  flora  was  not  a 
merely  local  phenomenon,  for  similar  plants  are  found 
in  Spitzbergen  in  lat.  78°  56'.  It  is  to  be  further 
observed,  that  while  the  general  characters  of  these 
ancient  Arctic  plants  imply  a  large  amount  of  summer 
heat  and  light,  the  evergreens  equally  imply  a  mild 
winter.  Further,  though  animal  remains  are  not 
found  with  these  plants,  it  is  probable  that  so  rich  a 
supply  of  vegetable  food  was  not  unutilised,  and  that 
we  shall  some  time  find  that  there  was  an  Arctic  fauna 
corresponding  to  the  Arctic  flora.  How  such  a 
climate  could  exist  in  Greenland  and  Spitzbergen  is 


262       THE  STOEY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

still  a  mystery.  It  has,  however,  been  suggested  that 
this  effect  might  result  from  the  concurrence  of  such 
astronomical  conditions  in  connection  with  the  eccen- 
tricity of  the  earth's  orbit  as  would  give  the  greatest 
amount  of  warmth  in  the  Northern  Hemisphere  with 
such  distribution  of  land  and  water  as  would  give  the 
least  amount  of  cold  northern  land  and  the  most 
favourable  arrangement  of  the  warm  surface  currents 
of  the  ocean.* 

Before  leaving  these  Miocene  plants,  I  must  refer 
to  a  paragraph  which  Dr.  Heer  has  thought  it  neces- 
sary to  insert  in  his  memoir  on  the  Greenland  flora, 
and  which  curiously  illustrates  the  feebleness  of  what 
with  some  men  passes  for  science.  He  says :  "  In 
conclusion,  I  beg  to  offer  a  few  remarks  on  the  amount 
of  certainty  in  identification  which  the  determination 
of  fossil  plants  is  able  to  afford  us.  We  know  that 
the  flowers,  fruits,  and  seeds  are  more  important  as 
characteristics  than  the  leaves.  There  are  many 
genera  of  which  the  leaves  are  variable,  and  conse- 
quently would  be  likely  to  lead  us  astray  if  we  trusted 
in  them  alone.  However,  many  characters  of  the 
form  and  venation  of  leaves  are  well-known  to  be 
characteristic  of  certain  genera,  and  can  therefore 
afford  us  characters  of  great  value  for  their  recogni- 
tion/' In  a  similar  apologetic  style  he  proceeds 
through  several  sentences  to  plead  the  cause  of  his 
Greenland  leaves.  That  he  should  have  to  do  so  is 
atrauge,  unless  indeed  the  botany  kno  fvn  to  those  fo* 

*  Croll  and  Lyell. 


THE    NEOZOIC   AGES.  2r6D 

whom  ho  writes  is  no  more  than,  that  which  a  school- 
girl learns  in  her  few  lessons  in  dissecting  a  buttercup 
or  daisy.  It  is  easy  for  scientific  triflers  to  exhibit 
collections  of  plants  in  which  species  of  different 
genera  and  families  are  so  similar  in  their  leaves  that  a 
careless  observer  would  mistake  one  for  the  other,  or 
to  get  up  composite  leaves  in  part  of  one  species  and 
in  part  of  another,  and  yet  seeming  the  same,  and  in 
this  way  to  underrate  the  labours  of  painstaking 
observers  like  Heer.  But  it  is  nevertheless  true  that 
in  any  of  these  leaves,  not  only  are  there  good  charac- 
ters by  which  they  can  be  recognised,  but  that  a 
single  breathing  pore,  or  a  single  hair,  or  a  few  cells, 
or  a  bit  of  epidermis  not  larger  than  a  pin's  head, 
should  enable  any  one  who  understands  his  business  to 
see  as  great  differences  as  a  merely  superficial  botanist 
would  see  between  the  flower  of  a  ranunculus  and  that 
of  a  strawberry.  Heer  himself,  and  the  same  applies 
to  all  other  competent  students  of  fossil  plants,  has 
almost  invariably  found  his  determinations  from  mere 
fragments  of  leaves  confirmed  when  more  character- 
istic parts  were  afterwards  discovered.  It  is  high 
time,  in  the  interests  of  geology,  that  botanists  should 
learn  that  constancy  and  correlation  of  parts  are  laws 
in  the  plant  as  well  as  in  the  animal ;  and  this  they  can 
learn  only  by  working  more  diligently  with  the  micro- 
scope. I  would,  however,  go  further  than  this,  and 
maintain  that,  in  regard  to  some  of  the  most  im- 
portant geological  conclusions  to  be  derived  from 
fossils,  even  the  leaves  of  plants  are  vastly  mors 


264      THE  STORY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

valuable  than  the  hard  parts  of  animals.  For  in- 
stance, the  bones  of  elephants  and  rhinoceroses  found 
in  Greenland  would  not  prove  a  warm  climate; 
because  the  creatures  might  have  been  protected  from 
cold  with  hair  like  that  of  the  musk-sheep,  and  they 
might  have  had  facilities  for  annual  migrations  like 
the  bisons.  The  occurrence  of  bones  of  reindeer  in 
France  does  not  prove  that  its  climate  was  like  that  of 
Lapland ;  but  only  that  it  was  wooded,  and  that  the 
animals  could  rove  at  will  to  the  hills  and  to  the  coast. 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  the  remains  of  an  evergreen 
oak  in  Greenland  constitute  absolute  proof  of  a  warm 
and  equable  climate ;  and  the  occurrence  of  leaves  of 
the  dwarf  birch  in  France  constitutes  a  proof  of  a  cool 
climate,  worth  more  than  that  which  can  be  derived 
from  the  bones  of  millions  of  reindeer  and  musk-sheep. 
Still  further,  in  all  those  greater  and  more  difficult 
questions  of  geology  which  relate  to  the  emergence 
and  submergence  of  land  areas,  and  to  the  geographi- 
cal conditions  of  past  geological  periods,  the  evidence 
of  plants,  especially  when  rooted  in  place,  is  of  far 
more  value  than  that  of  animals,  though  it  has  yet 
been  very  little  used. 

This  digression  prepares  the  way  for  the  question : 
Was  the  Miocene  period  on  the  whole  a  better  age 
of  the  world  than  that  in  which  we  live  ?  In  some 
respects  it  was.  Obviously  there  was  in  the  Northern 
Hemisphere  a  vast  surface  of  land  under  a  mild  and 
equable  climate,  and  clothed  with  a  rich  and  varied 
vegetation.  Had  we  lived  in  the  Miocene,  we  might 


THE   NEOZOIC   AGES.  265 

have  sat  under  our  vine  and  fig-tree  equally  in  Green- 
land and  Spitzbergen  and  in  those  more  southern 
climes  to  which  this  privilege  is  now  restricted.  We 
might  have  enjoyed  a  great  variety  of  rich  and  nutri- 
tive fruits,  and,  if  sufficiently  muscular,  and  able  to 
cope  with  the  gigantic  mammals  of  the  period,  we 
might  have  engaged  in  either  the  life  of  the  hunter  or 
that  of  the  agriculturist  under  advantages  which  we 
do  not  now  possess.  On  the  whole,  the  Miocene 
presents  to  us  in  these  respects  the  perfection  of  the 
Neozoic  time,  and  its  culmination  in  so  far  as  the 
nobler  forms  of  brute  animals  and  of  plants  are  con- 
cerned. Had  men  existed  in  those  days,  however, 
they  should  have  been,  in  order  to  suit  the  conditions 
surrounding  them,  a  race  of  giants ;  and  they  would 
probably  have  felt  the  want  of  many  of  those  more 
modern  species  belonging  to  the  flora  and  fauna  of 
Europe  and  Western  Asia  on  which  man  has  so  much 
depended  for  his  civilization.  Some  reasons  have 
been  adduced  for  the  belief  that  in  the  Miocene  and 
Eocene  there  were  intervals  of  cold  climate ;  but  the 
evidence  of  this  may  be  merely  local  and  exceptional, 
and  does  not  interfere  with  the  broad  characteristics  of 
the  age  as  sketched  above. 

The  warm  climate  and  rich  vegetation  of  the 
Miocene  extended  far  into  the  Pliocene,  with  charac- 
ters very  similar  to  those  already  stated;  but  as  the 
Pliocene  age  went  on,  cold  and  frost  settled  down 
upon  the  Northern  Hemisphere,  and  a  remarkable 
change  took  place  in  its  vegetable  productions.  Foi 


266      THE  STOEY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAX. 

example,  in  tlie  somewhat  celebrated  "  forest  bed"  of 
Cromer,  in  Norfolk,  which  is  regarded  as  Newer 
Pliocene,  we  have  lost  all  the  foreign  and  warm- 
climate  plants  of  the  Miocene,  and  find  the  familiar 
Scotch  firs  and  other  plants  of  the  Modern  British 
flora.  The  animals,  however,  retain  their  former 
types ;  for  two  species  of  elephant,  a  hippopotamus, 
and  a  rhinoceros  are  found  in  connection  with  these 
plants.  This  is  another  evidence,  in  addition  to  those 
above  referred  to,  that  plants  are  better  thermometers 
to  indicate  geological  and  climatal  change  than 
animals.  This  Pliocene  refrigeration  appears  to  have 
gone  on  increasing  into  the  next  or  Post-pliocene  age, 
and  attained  its  maximum  in  the  Glacial  period,  when, 
as  many  geologists  think,  our  continents  were,  even 
in  the  temperate  latitudes,  covered  with  a  sheet  of 
ice  like  that  which  now  clothes  Greenland.  Then 
occurred  a  very  general  subsidence,  in  which  they 
were  submerged  under  the  waters  of  a  cold  icy  sea, 
tenanted  by  marine  animals  now  belonging  to  boreal 
and  arctic  regions.  After  this  last  great  plunge-bath 
they  rose  to  constitute  the  dry  land  of  man  and  his 
contemporaries.  Let  us  close  this  part  of  the  subject 
with  one  striking  illustration  from  Heer's  memoir  on 
Bovey  Tracey.  At  this  place,  above  the  great  series 
of  clays  and  lignites  containing  the  Miocene  plants 
already  described,  is  a  thick  covering  of  clay,  gravel, 
and  stones,  evidently  of  much  later  date.  This  also 
contains  some  plants ;  but  instead  of  the  figs,  and 
cinnamons,  and  evergreen  oaks,  they  are  the  petty 


THE   NEOZOIC    AGES.  267 

dwarf  bircli  of  Scandinavia  and  the  Highland  hills, 
and  three  willows,  one  of  them  the  little  Arctic  and 
Alpine  creeping  willow.  Thus  we  have  in  the  south 
of  England  a  transition  in  the  course  of  the  Pliocene 
period,  from  a  climate  much  milder  than  that  of 
Modern  England  to  one  almost  Arctic  in  its  character. 
Our  next  topic  for  consideration  is  one  of  the  most 
vexed  questions  among  geologists,  the  Glacial  period 
which  immediately  preceded  the  Advent  of  Man.  In 
treating  of  this  it  will  be  safest  first  to  sketch  the 
actual  appearances  which  present  themselves,  and 
then  to  draw  such  pictures  as  we  can  of  the  conditions 
which  they  represent.  The  most  recent  and  super- 
ficial covering  of  the  earth's  crust  is  usually  composed 
of  rock  material  more  or  less  ground  up  and  wea- 
thered. This  may,  with  reference  to  its  geological 
character  and  origin,  be  considered  as  of  three  kinds. 
It  may  be  merely  the  rock  weathered  and  decomposed 
to  a  certain  extent  in  situ ;  or  it  may  be  alluvial 
matter  carried  or  deposited  by  existing  streams  or 
tides,  or  by  the  rains ;  or,  lastly,  it  may  be  material 
evidencing  the  operation  of  causes  not  now  in  action. 
This  last  constitutes  what  has  been  called  drift  or 
diluvial  detritus,  and  is  that  with  which  we  have  now 
to  do.  Such  drift,  then,  is  very  widely  distributed  on 
our  continents  in  th0  higher  latitudes.  In  the  North- 
ern Hemisphere  it  extends  from  the  Arctic  regions 
to  about  50°  of  north  latitude  in  Europe,  and  as  low 
as  40°  in  North  America ;  and  it  occurs  south  of 
similar  parallels  in  the  Southern  Hemisphere.  Farther 


268  THE    STOEY   OP  THE   EARTH   AND   MATT. 

towards  the  equator  than  the  latitudes  indicated,  we 
do  not  find  the  proper  drift  deposits,  but  merely 
weathered  rocks  or  alluvia,  or  old  sea  bottoms  raised 
up.  This  limitation  of  the  drift,  at  the  very  outset 
gives  it  the  character  of  a  deposit  in  some  way  con- 
nected with  the  Polar  cold.  Besides  this,  the  general 
transport  of  stones  and  other  material  in  the  northern 
regions  has  been  to  the  south;  hence  in  the  Northern 
Hemisphere  this  deposit  may  be  called  the  Northern 
Drift. 

If  now  we  take  a  typical  locality  of  this  formation, 
such,  for  instance,  as  we  may  find  in  Scotland,  or 
Scandinavia,  or  Canada,  we  shall  find  it  to  consist  of 
three  members,  as  follows  :— 

3.   Superficial  Sands  or  Gravels. 

2.  Stratified  Clays. 

1.  Till  or  Boulder  Clay. 

This  arrangement  may  locally  be  more  complicated, 
or  it  may  be  deficient  in  one  of  its  members.  The 
boulder  clay  may,  for  example,  be  underlaid  by 
stratified  sand  or  gravel,  or  even  by  peaty  deposits  ; 
it  may  be  intermixed  with  layers  of  clay  or  sand ;  the 
stratified  clay  or  the  boulder  clay  may  be  absent,  or 
may  be  uncovered  by  any  upper  member.  Still  we 
may  take  the  typical  series  as  above  stated,  and  in- 
quire as  to  its  characters  and  teaching. 

The  lower  member,  or  boulder  clay,  is  a  very 
remarkable  kind  of  deposit,  consisting  of  a  paste 
which  may  graduate  from  tough  clay  to  loose  sand, 


THE    NEOZOIC   AGES.  2  0*9 

and  which  holds  large  angular  and  rounded  stones 
or  boulders  confusedly  intermixed ;  these  stones  may 
be  either  from  the  rocks  found  in  the  immediate 
vicinity  of  their  present  position,  or  at  great  distances. 
This  mass  is  usually  destitute  of  any  lamination  or 
subordinate  stratification,  whence  it  is  often  called 
Unstratified  Drift,  and  is  of  very  variable  thickness, 
often  occurring  in  very  thick  beds  in  valley s,  and 
being  comparatively  thin  or  absent  on  intervening 
hills.  Further,  if  we  examine  the  stones  contained 
in  the  boulder  clay,  we  shall  find  that  they  are  often 
scratched  or  striated  and  grooved;  and  when  we 
remove  the  clay  from  the  rock  surfaces  on  which 
it  rests,  we  find  these  in  like  manner  striated, 
grooved  and  polished.  These  phenomena,  viz.,  of 
polished  and  striated  rocks  and  stones,  are  similar  to 
those  produced  by  those  great  sliding  masses  of  ice, 
the  glaciers  of  Alpine  regions,  which  in  a  small  way 
and  in  narrow  and  elevated  valleys,  act  on  the  rocks 
and  stones  in  this  manner,  though  they  cannot  form 
deposits  precisely  analogous  to  the  boulder  clay, 
owing  to  the  wasting  away  of  much  of  the  finer 
material  by  the  torrents,  and  the  heaping  of  the 
coarser  detritus  in  ridges  and  piles.  Further,  we 
have  in  Greenland  a  continental  mass,  with  all  its 
valleys  thus  filled  with  slowly-moving  ice,  and  from 
this  there  drift  off  immense  ice-islands,  which  con- 
tinue at  least  the  mud-and-stone-depositing  process, 
and  possibly  also  the  grinding  process,  over  the  sea 
bottom.  So  far  all  geologists  are  agreed;  but  here 


270      THE  STOEY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

they  diverge  into  two  schools.  One  of  these,  than 
of  the  Glacier  theorists,  holds  that  the  boulder  clay 
is  the  product  of  land-ice;  and  this  requires  the 
supposition  that  at  the  time  when  it  was  deposited 
the  whole  of  our  continents  north  of  40°  or  50°  was 
in  the  condition  of  Greenland  at  present.  This  is, 
however,  a  hypothesis  so  inconvenient,  not  to  say 
improbable,  that  many  hesitate  to  accept  it,  and 
prefer  to  believe  that  in  the  so-called  Glacial  period 
the  land  was  submerged,  and  that  icebergs  then  as 
now  drifted  from  the  north  in  obedience  to  the 
Arctic  currents,  and  produced  the  effects  observed. 
It  would  be  tedious  to  go  into  all  the  arguments  of 
the  advocates  of  glaciers  and  icebergs,  and  I  shall 
not  attempt  this,  more  especially  as  the  only  way  to 
decide  the  question  is  to  observe  carefully  the  facts 
in  every  particular  locality,  and  inquire  as  to  the 
conclusions  fairly  deducible.  With  the  view  of  aiding 
such  a  solution,  however,  I  may  state  a  few  general 
principles  applicable  to  the  appearances  observed. 
We  may  then  suppose  that  boulder  clay  may  be 
formed  in  three  ways.  (1)  It  may  be  deposited  on 
land,  as  what  is  called  the  bottom  moraine  of  a  land 
glacier.  (2)  It  may  be  deposited  in  the  sea  when 
such  a  glacier  ends  on  the  coast.  (3)  It  may  be 
deposited  by  the  melting  or  grounding  on  muddy 
bottoms  of  the  iceberg  masses  floated  off  from  the 
end  of  such  a  glacier.  It  is  altogether  likely,  from 
the  observations  recently  made  in  Greenland,  that  in 
that  country  such  a  deposit  is  being  formed  in  all 


THE   NEOZOIC    AGES.  271 

these  ways.  In  like  manner,  the  ancient  boulder 
clay  may  have  been  formed  in  one  or  more  of  these 
ways  in  any  given  locality  where  it  occurs,  though  it 
may  be  difficult  in  many  instances  to  indicate  the 
precise  mode.  There  are,  however,  certain  criteria 
which  may  be  applied  to  the  determination  of  its 
origin,  and  I  may  state  a  few  of  these,  which  are  the 
results  of  my  own  experience.  (1)  Where  the  boulder 
clay  contains  marine  shells,  or  rounded  stones  which  if 
exposed  to  the  air  would  have  been  cracked  to  pieces, 
decomposed,  or  oxidized,  it  must  have  been  formed 
under  water.  Where  the  conditions  are  the  reverse  of 
these,  it  may  have  been  formed  on  land.  (2)  When 
the  striations  and  transport  of  materials  do  not  con- 
form to  the  levels  of  the  country,  and  take  that  direc- 
tion, usually  N.E.  and  s.w.,  which  the  Arctic  current 
would  take  if  the  country  were  submerged,  the  pro- 
bability is  that  it  was  deposited  in  the  sea.  Where, 
however,  the  striation  and  transport  take  the  course  of 
existing  valleys,  more  especially  in  hilly  regions,  the 
contrary  may  be  inferred.  (3)  Where  most  of  the 
material,  more  especially  the  large  stones,  has  been 
carried  to  great  distances  from  its  original  site, 
especially  over  plains  or  up  slopes,  it  has  probably 
been  sea-borne.  Where  it  is  mostly  local,  local  ice- 
action  may  be  inferred.  Other  criteria  may  be  stated, 
but  these  are  sufficient  for  our  present  purpose.  Their 
application  in  every  special  case  1  do  not  presume  to 
make;  but  I  am  convinced  that  when  applied  to 
those  regions  in  Eastern  America  with  which  I  am 


272       THE  STORY  OP  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

familiar,  they  necessitate  the  conclusion  that  in  the 
period  of  extreme  refrigeration,  the  greater  part  of 
the  land  was  under  water,  and  such  hills  and  moun- 
tains as  remained  were  little  Greenlands,  covered  with 
ice  and  sending  down  glaciers  to  the  sea.  In  hilly 
and  broken  regions,  therefore,  and  especially  at  con- 
siderable elevations,  we  find  indications  of  glacier 
action;  on  the  great  plains,  on  the  contrary,  the 
indications  are  those  of  marine  glaciation  and  trans- 
port. This  last  statement,  I  believe,  applies  to  the 
mountains  and  plains  of  Europe  and  Asia  as  well  as  of 
America. 

This  view  requires  not  only  the  supposition  of  great 
refrigeration,  but  of  a  great  subsidence  of  the  land  in 
the  temperate  latitudes,  with  large  residual  islands 
and  hills  in  the  Arctic  regions.  That  such  subsidence 
actually  took  place  is  proved,  not  only  by  the  frequent 
occurrence  of  marine  shells  in  the  boulder  clay  itself, 
but  also  by  the  occurrence  of  stratified  marine 
clays  filled  with  shells,  often  of  deep-water  species, 
immediately  over  that  deposit.  Further,  the  shells, 
and  also  occasional  land  plants  found  in  these  beds, 
indicate  a  cold  climate  and  much  cold  fresh  water 
pouring  into  the  sea  from  melting  ice  and  snow.  In 
Canada  these  marine  clays  have  been  traced  up  to 
elevations  of  600  feet,  and  in  Great  Britain  deposits 
of  this  kind  occur  on  one  of  the  mountains  of  Wales 
at  the  height  of  1300  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea. 
Nor  is  it  to  be  supposed  that  this  level  marks  the 
extreme  height  of  the  Post -pliocene  waters,  for  drift 


THE    NEOZOIC    AGES.  273 

material  not  explicable  by  glaciers,  and  evidences  of 
marine  erosion,  occur  at  still  higher  levels,  and  it  is 
natural  that  on  high  and  exposed  points  fewer  remains 
of  fossiliferous  beds  should  be  left  than  in  plains  and 
valleys. 

At  the  present  day  the  coasts  of  Britain  and  other 
parts  of  Western  Europe  enjoy  an  exceptionally  warm 
temperature,  owing  to  the  warm  currents  of  the 
Atlantic  being  thrown  on  them,  and  the  warm  and 
moist  Atlantic  air  flowing  over  them,  under  the  influ- 
ence of  the  prevailing  westerly  winds.  These  advan- 
tages are  not  possessed  by  the  eastern  coast  of  North 
America,  nor  by  some  deep  channels  in  the  sea,  along 
which  the  cold  northern  currents  flow  under  the 
warmer  water.  Hence  these  last-mentioned  localities 
are  inhabited  by  boreal  shells  much  farther  south  than 
such  species  extend  on  the  coasts  and  banks  of  Great 
Britain.  In  the  Glacial  period  this  exceptional  advan- 
tage was  lost,  and  while  the  American  seas,  as  judged 
by  their  marine  animals,  were  somewhat  colder  than 
at  present,  the  British  seas  were  proportionally  much 
more  cooled  down.  No  doubt,  however,  there  were 
warmer  and  colder  areas,  determined  by  depth  and 
prevailing  currents,  and  as  these  changed  their 
position  in  elevation  and  subsidence  of  the  land, 
alternations  and  even  mixtures  of  the  inhabitants  of 
cold  and  warm  water  resulted,  which  have  often  been 
very  puzzling  to  geologists. 

I  have  taken  the  series  of  drift  deposits  seen  in 
Britain  and  in  Canada  as  typical,  and  the  previous 

IS 


274  THE    STORY   OP   THE    EA.RTH   AND   MAN. 

discussion  has  had  reference  to  them.  But  it  would 
be  unfair  not  to  inform  the  reader  that  this  succession 
of  deposits  after  all  belongs  to  the  margins  of  our  con- 
tinents rather  than  to  their  great  central  areas.  This 
is  the  case  at  least  in  North  America,  where  in  the 
region  of  the  great  lakes  the  oldest  glaciated  surfaces 
are  overlaid  by  thick  beds  of  stratified  clay,  without 
marine  fossils,  and  often  without  either  stones  or 
boulders,  though  these  sometimes  occur,  especially 
toward  the  north.  The  clay,  however,  contains 
drifted  fragments  of  coniferous  trees.  Above  this 
clay  are  sand  and  gravel,,  and  the  principal  deposit 
of  travelled  stones  and  boulders  rests  on  these.  I 
cannot  affirm  that  a  similar  succession  occurs  on  the 
great  inland  plains  of  Europe  and  Asia  j  but  I  think 
it  probable  that  to  some  extent  it  does.  The  ex- 
planation of  this  inland  drift  by  the  advocates  of  a 
great  continental  glacier  is  as  follows:  (1)  In  the 
Pliocene  period  the  continents  were  higher  than 
at  present,  and  many  deep  valleys,  since  filled  up, 
were  cut  in  them.  (2)  In  the  Post-pliocene  these 
elevated  continents  became  covered  with  ice,  by  the 
movement  of  which  the  valleys  were  deepened  and 
the  surfaces  striated.  (3)  This  ice-period  was  followed 
by  a  depression  and  submergence,  in  which  the  clays 
were  deposited,  filling  up  old  channels,  and  much 
changing  the  levels  of  the  land.  Lastly,  as  the  land 
rose  again  from  this  submergence,  sand  and  gravel 
were  deposited,  and  boulders  scattered  over  the  surface 
by  floating  ice. 


THE    NEOZOIC    AGES.  275 

The  advocates  of  floating  ice  as  distinguished  from  a 
continental  glacier,  merely  dispense  with  the  latter, 
and  affirm  that  the  striation  under  the  clay,  as  well  as 
that  connected  with  the  later  boulders,  is  the  effect  of 
floating  bergs.  The  occurrence  of  so  much  drift  wood 
in  the  clay  favours  their  view,  as  it  is  more  likely 
that  there  would  be  islands  clothed  with  trees  in  the 
sea,  than  that  these  should  exist  immediately  after 
the  country  had  been  mantled  in  ice.  The  want  of 
marine  shells  is  a  difficulty  in  either  view,  but  may 
be  accounted  for  by  the  rapid  deposition  of  the  clay 
and  the  slow  spreading  of  marine  animals  over  a  sub- 
merged continent  under  unfavourable  conditions  of 
climate. 

In  any  case  the  reader  will  please  observe  that 
theorists  must  account  for  both  the  interior  and 
marginal  forms  of  these  deposits.  Let  us  tabulate  trie 
facts  and  the  modes  of  accounting  for  them. 


276 


THE    STORY   OP   THE   EARTH  AND   MAN. 


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THE   NEOZOIC   AGES.  277 

This  table  will  suffice  at  least  to  reduce  tlie  great 
glacier  controversy  to  its  narrowest  limits,  when  we 
have  added  the  one  further  consideration  that  glaciers 
are  the  parents  of  icebergs,  and  that  the  question  is 
not  of  one  or  the  other  exclusively,  but  of  the  relative 
predominance  of  the  one  or  the  other  in  certain  given 
times  and  places.  Both  theories  admit  a  great  Post- 
pliocene  subsidence.  The  abettors  of  glaciers  can 
urge  the  elevation  of  the  surface,  the  supposed 
powers  of  glaciers  as  eroding  agents,  and  the  trans- 
port of  boulders.  Those  whose  theoretical  views  lean 
to  floating  ice,  believe  that  they  can  equally  account 
for  these  phenomena,  and  can  urge  in  support  of  their 
theory  the  occurrence  of  drift  wood  in  the  inland  clay 
and  boulder  clay,  and  of  sea-shells  in  the  marginal 
clay  and  boulder  clay,  and  the  atmospheric  decomposi- 
tion of  rock  in  the  Pliocene  period,  as  a  source  of  the 
material  of  the  clays,  while  to  similar  causes  they  can 
attribute  the  erosion  of  the  deep  valleys  piled  with 
the  Post-pliocene  deposits.  They  can  also  maintain 
that  the  general  direction  of  striation  and  drift  im- 
plies the  action  of  sea  currents,  while  they  appeal  to 
local  glaciers  to  account  for  special  cases  of  glaciated 
rocks  at  the  higher  levels. 

How  long  our  continental  plateaus  remained  under 
the  icy  seas  of  the  Glacial  period  we  do  not  know. 
Relatively  to  human  chronology,  it  was  no  doubt  a 
long  time ;  but  short  in  comparison  with  those  older 
subsidences  in  which  the  great  Palaeozoic  limestones 
were  produced.  At  length,  however,  the  change 


278      THE  STORY  OF  THE  EAETH  AND  MAN. 

came.  Slowly  and  gradually,  or  by  intermittent  lifts, 
the  land  rose  j  and  as  it  did  so,  shallow- water  sands 
and  gravels  were  deposited  on  the  surface  of  the  deep- 
sea  clays,  and  the  sides  of  the  hills  were  cut  into 
inland  cliffs  and  terraces,  marking  the  stages  of  reces- 
sion of  the  waters.  At  length,  when  the  process  was 
complete,  our  present  continents  stood  forth  in  their 
existing  proportions  ready  for  the  occupancy  of  man. 

The  picture  which  these  changes  present  to  the 
imagination  is  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  in  all 
geological  history.  We  have  been  familiar  with  the 
idea  of  worlds  drowned  in  water,  and  the  primeval 
incandescent  earth  shows  us  the  possibility  of  our 
globe  being  melted  with  fervent  heat;  but  here  we 
have  a  world  apparently  frozen  out — destroyed  by 
cold,  or  doubly  destroyed  by  ice  and  water.  Let  us 
endeavour  to  realise  this  revolution,  as  it  may  have 
occurred  in  any  of  the  temperate  regions  of  the 
Northern  Hemisphere,  thickly  peopled  with  the 
magnificent  animals  that  had  come  down  from  the 
grand  old  Miocene  time.  Gradually  the  warm  and 
equable  temperature  gives  place  to  cold  winters  and 
chilly  wet  summers.  The  more  tender  animals  die 
out,  and  the  less  hardy  plants  begin  to  be  winter- 
killed, or  to  fail  to  perfect  their  fruits.  As  the  forests 
are  thus  decimated,  other  and  hardier  species  replace 
those  which  disappear.  The  animals  which  have  had 
to  confine  themselves  to  sheltered  spots,  or  which 
have  perished  through  cold  or  want  of  food,  are  re- 
placed by  others  migrating  from  the  mountains,  or 


THE    NEOZOIC    AGES.  279 

from  colder  regions.  Some,  perhaps,  in  the  course 
of  generations,  become  dwarfed  in  stature,  and 
covered  with  more  shaggy  fur.  Permanent  snow  at 
length  appears  upon  the  hill-tops,  and  glaciers  plough 
their  way  downward,  devastating  the  forests,  en- 
croaching on  the  fertile  plains,  and  at  length  reaching 
the  heads  of  the  bays  and  fiords.  While  snow  and 
ice  are  thus  encroaching  from  above,  the  land  is 
subsiding,  and  the  sea  is  advancing  upon  it,  while 
great  icebergs  drifting  on  the  coasts  still  further 
reduce  the  temperature.  Torrents  and  avalanches 
from  the  hills  carry  mud  and  gravel  over  the  plains. 
Peat  bogs  accumulate  in  the  hollows.  Glaciers  heap 
up  confused  masses  of  moraine,  and  the  advancing 
sea  piles  up  stones  and  shingle  to  be  imbedded  in  mud 
on  its  further  advance,  while  boreal  marine  animals 
invade  the  now  submerged  plains.  At  length  the  ice 
and  water  meet  everywhere,  or  leave  only  a  few  green 
strips  where  hardy  Arctic  plants  still  survive,  and  a 
few  well- clad  animals  manage  to  protract  their  exist- 
ence. Perhaps  even  these  are  overwhelmed,  and  the 
curtain  of  the  Glacial  winter  falls  over  the  fair  scenery 
of  the  Pliocene.  In  every  locality  thus  invaded  by  an 
apparently  perpetual  winter,  some  species  of  laud 
animals  must  have  perished.  Others  may  have  mi- 
grated to  more  genial  climes,  others  under  depaupe- 
rated and  hardy  varietal  forms  may  have  continued 
successfully  to  struggle  for  existence.  The  general 
result  must  have  been  greatly  to  diminish  the  nobler 
forms  of  life,  and  to  encourage  only  those  fitted 


280      THE  STOEY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

for  the  most  rigorous  climates  and  least  productive 
soils. 

Could  we  have  visited  the  world  in  this  dreary 
period,  and  have  witnessed  the  decadence  and  death 
of  that  brilliant  and  magnificent  flora  and  fauna 
which  we  have  traced  upward  from  the  Eocene,  we 
might  well  have  despaired  of  the  earth's  destinies,  and 
have  fancied  it  the  sport  of  some  malignant  demon ; 
or  have  supposed  that  in  the  contest  between  the 
powers  of  destruction  and  those  of  renovation  the 
former  had  finally  gained  the  victory.  We  must 
observe,  however,  that  the  suffering  in  such  a  process 
is  less  than  we  might  suppose.  So  long  as  animals 
could  exist,  they  would  continue  to  enjoy  life.  The 
conditions  unfavourable  to  them  would  be  equally  or 
more  so  to  their  natural  enemies.  Only  the  last 
survivors  would  meet  with  what  might  be  regarded 
as  a  tragical  end.  As  one  description  of  animal 
became  extinct,  another  was  prepared  to  occupy  its 
room.  If  elephants  and  rhinoceroses  perished  from 
the  land,  countless  herds  of  walruses  and  seals  took 
their  places.  If  gay  insects  died  and  disappeared, 
shell-fishes  and  sea-stars  were  their  successors. 

Thus  in  nature  there  is  life  even  in  death,  and 
constant  enjoyment  even  when  old  systems  are  passing 
away.  But  could  we  have  survived  the  Glacial  period, 
we  should  have  seen  a  reason  for  its  apparently 
wholesale  destruction.  Out  of  that  chaos  came  at 
length  an  Eden*  and  just  as  the  Permian  prepared 
the  way  for  the  Mesozoic,  so  the  glaciers  and  icebergs 


THE   NEOZOIC   AGES.  281 

of  the  Post-pliocene  were  the  ploughshare  of  God 
preparing  the  earth  for  the  time  when,  with  a  flora 
and  fauna  more  beautiful  and  useful,  if  less  magni- 
ficent than  that  of  the  Tertiary,  it  became  as  the 
garden  of  the  Lord,  fitted  for  the  reception  of  His 
image  and  likeness,  immortal  and  intelligent  Man. 
We  need  not,  however,  with  one  modern  school  of 
philosophy,  regard  man  himself  as  but  a  descendant 
of  Miocene  apes,  scourged  into  reason  and  humanity 
by  the  struggle  for  existence  in  the  Glacial  period. 
We  may  be  content  to  consider  him  as  a  son  of  God, 
and  to  study  in  the  succeeding  chapters  that  renewal 
of  the  Post-pliocene  world  which  preceded  and 
heralded  his  advent. 

In  the  meantime,  our  illustration,*  borrowed  in  part 
from  the  magnificent  representation  of  the  Post- 
pliocene  fauna  of  England,  by  the  great  restorer  of 
extinct  animals,  Mr.  Waterhouse  Hawkins,  may  serve 
to  give  some  idea  of  the  grand  and  massive  forms  of 
animal  life  which,  even  in  the  higher  latitudes,  sur- 
vived the  Post-pliocene  cold,  and  only  decayed  and 
disappeared  under  that  amelioration  of  physical  con- 
ditions which  marks  the  introduction  of  the  human 
period. 

»  Page  301. 


13* 


CHAPTER  XH. 

CLOSE    OF   THE    POST-PLIOCENE,  AND   ADVENT   OF   MAff. 

IN  closing  these  sketches  it  may  seem  unsatisfactory 
not  to  link  the  geological  ages  with  the  modern 
period  in  which  we  live;  yet,  perhaps,  nothing  is 
more  complicated  or  encompassed  with  greater  diffi- 
culties or  uncertainties.  The  geologist,  emerging 
from  the  study  of  the  older  monuments  of  the  earth's 
history,  and  working  with  the  methods  of  physical 
science,  here  meets  face  to  face  the  archaeologist  and 
historian,  who  have  been  tracing  back  in  the  opposite 
direction,  and  with  very  different  appliances,  the 
stream  of  human  history  and  tradition.  In  such 
circumstances  conflicts  may  occur,  or  at  least  the  two 
paths  of  inquiry  may  refuse  to  connect  themselves 
without  concessions  unpleasant  to  the  pursuers  of  one 
or  both.  Further,  it  is  just  at  this  moeting-place  that 
the  dim  candle  of  traditional  lore  is  almost  burnt  out 
in  the  hand  of  the  antiquary,  and  that  the  geologist 
finds  his  monumental  evidence  becoming  more  scanty 
and  less  distinct.  We  cannot  hope  as  yet  to  dispel  all 
the  shadows  that  haunt  this  obscure  domain,  but  can 
at  least  point  out  some  of  the  paths  which  traverse  it. 
In  attempting  this,  we  may  first  classify  the  time 
involved  as  follows : — (1)  The  earlier  Post-pliocene 


CLOSE    OF    POST- PLIOCENE ADVENT    OF    MAN.          283 

period  of  geology  may  be  called  the  Glacial  era.  It  is 
that  of  a  cold  climate,  accompanied  by  glaciation  and 
boulder  deposits.  (2)  The  later  Post-pliocene  may  be 
called  the  Post-glacial  era.  It  is  that  of  re-elevation  of 
the  continents  and  restoration  of  a  mild  tempera- 
ture. It  connects  itself  with  the  pre-historic  period 
of  the  archaeologist,  inasmuch  as  remains  of  man  and 
his  works  are  apparently  included  in  the  same  deposits 
which  hold  the  bones  of  Post-glacial  animals.  (3)  The 
Modern  era  is  that  of  secular  human  history. 

It  may  be  stated  with  certainty  that  the  Pliocene 
period  of  geology  affords  no  trace  of  human  remains 
or  implements;  and  the  same  may  I  think  be 
affirmed  of  the  period  of  glaciation  and  subsidence 
which  constitutes  the  earlier  Post-pliocene.  With 
the  rise  of  the  land  out  of  the  Glacial  sea  indica- 
tions of  man  are  believed  to  appear,  along  with 
remains  of  several  mammalian  species  now  his  con- 
temporaries. Archaeology  and  geology  thus  meet 
somewhere  in  the  pre-historic  period  of  the  former, 
and  in  the  Post-glacial  of  the  latter.  Wherever, 
therefore,  human  history  extends  farthest  back,  and 
geological  formations  of  the  most  modern  periods 
exist  and  have  been  explored,  we  may  expect  best  to 
define  their  junctions.  Unfortunately  it  happens 
that  our  information  on  these  points  is  still  very 
incomplete  and  locally  limited.  In  many  extensive 
regions,  like  America  and  Australia,  while  the  geo- 
logical record  is  somewhat  complete,  the  historic 
record  extends  back  at  most  a  few  centuries,  and  the 


284       THE  STOEY  OF  THE  EAETH  AND  MAN. 

pre-historic  monuments  are  of  uncertain  date.  In 
other  countries,  as  in  Western  Asia  and  Egypt, 
where  the  historic  record  extends  very  far  back,  the 
geology  is  less  perfectly  known.  At  the  present 
moment,  therefore,  the  main  battle-field  of  these 
controversies  is  in  Western  Europe,  where,  though 
history  scarce  extends  farther  back  than  the  time  of 
the  Eoman  Republic,  the  geologic  record  is  very 
complete,  and  has  been  explored  with  some  thorough- 
ness. It  is  obvious,  however,  that  we  thus  have  to 
face  the  question  at  a  point  where  the  pre-historic 
gap  is  necessarily  very  wide. 

Taking  England  as  an  example,  all  before  the 
Eoman  invasion  is  pre-historic,  and  with  regard  to 
this  pre-historic  period  the  evidence  that  we  can 
obtain  is  chiefly  of  a  geological  character.  The  pre- 
historic men  are  essentially  fossils.  We  know  of 
them  merely  what  can  be  learned  from  their  bones 
and  implements  embedded  in  the  soil  or  in  the 
earth  of  the  caverns  in  which  some  of  them  shel- 
tered themselves.  For  the  origin  and  date  of  these 
deposits  the  antiquary  must  go  to  the  geologist, 
and  he  imitates  the  geologist  in  arranging  his 
human  fossils  under  such  names  as  the  "Paleo- 
lithic," or  period  of  rude  stone  implements ;  the 
fc  Neolithic/'  or  period  of  polished  stone  implements; 
the  Bronze  Period,  and  the  Iron  Period;  though 
inasmuch  as  higher  and  lower  states  of  tht3  arts 
seem  always  to  have  coexisted,  and  the  time  in- 
volved is  comparatively  short,  these  periods  are  of 


CLOSE   OP   POST-PLIOCENE — ADVENT   OP   MAN.        285 

far  less  value  than  those  of  geology.  In  Britain 
the  age  of  iron  is  in  the  main  historic.  That  of 
bronze  goes  back  to  the  times  of  early  Phoenician 
trade  with  the  south  of  England.  That  of  stone, 
while  locally  extending  far  into  the  succeeding  ages, 
reaches  back  into  an  unknown  antiquity,  and  is,  as 
we  shall  see  in  the  sequel,  probably  divided  into 
two  by  a  great  physical  change,  though  not  in  the 
abrupt  and  arbitrary  way  sometimes  assumed  by 
those  who  base  their  classification  solely  on  the 
rude  or  polished  character  of  stone  implements. 
We  must  not  forget,  however,  that  in  Western 
Asia  the  ages  of  bronze  and  iron  may  have  begun 
two  thousand  years  at  least  earlier  than  in  Britain, 
and  that  in  some  parts  of  America  the  Palaeolithic 
age  of  chipped  stone  implements  still  continues. 
We  must  also  bear  in  mind  that  when  the  archae- 
logist  appeals  to  the  geologist  for  aid,  he  thereby 
leaves  that  kind  of  investigation  in  which  dates  are 
settled  by  years,  for  that  in  which  they  are 
marked  merely  by  successive  physical  and  organic 
changes. 

Turning,  then,  to  our  familiar  geological  methods, 
and  confining  ourselves  mainly  to  the  Northern 
Hemisphere  and  to  Western  Europe,  two  pictures 
present  themselves  to  us  :  (!)  The  physical  changes 
preceding  the  advent  of  man ;  (2)  The  decadence  of 
the  land  animals  of  the  Post-pliocene  age,  and  the 
appearance  of  those  of  the  modern. 

In  the  last  chapter  I  had  to  introduce  the  reader 


286      THE  STORY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAK. 

to  a  great  and  terrible  revolution,  whereby  the  old 
Pliocene  continents,  with  all  their  wealth  of  animals 
and  plants,  became  sealed  up  in  a  mantle  of  Green- 
land ice,  or,  slowly  sinking  beneath  the  level  of 
the  sea,  were  transformed  into  an  ocean-bottom 
over  which  icebergs  bore  their  freight  of  clay  and 
boulders.  We  also  saw  that  as  the  Post-pliocene 
age  advanced,  the  latter  condition  prevailed,  until 
the  waters  stood  more  than  a  thousand  feet  deep 
over  the  plains  of  Europe.  In  this  great  glacial 
submergence,  which  closed  the  earlier  Post-pliocene 
period,  and  over  vast  areas  of  the  Northern  Hemi- 
sphere, terminated  the  existence  of  many  of  the 
noblest  forms  of  life,  it  is  believed  that  man  had 
no  share.  We  have,  at  least  as  yet,  no  record  of 
his  presence. 

Out  of  these  waters  the  land  again  rose  slowly 
and  intermittently,  so  that  the  receding  waves 
worked  even  out  of  hard  rocks  ranges  of  coast 
cliff  which  the  further  elevation  converted  into 
inland  terraces,  and  that  the  clay  and  stones  de- 
posited by  the  Glacial  waters  were  in  many  places 
worked  over  and  rearranged  by  the  tides  and  waves 
of  the  shallowing  sea  before  they  were  permanently 
raised  up  to  undergo  the  action  of  the  rains  and 
streams,  while  long  banks  of  sand  and  gravel  were 
stretched  across  plains  and  the  mouths  of  valleys, 
constituting  (t  kames,"  or  "  eskers,"  only  to  be 
distinguished  from  moraines  of  glaciers  by  the  stra- 
tified arrangement  of  their  materials. 


CLOSE    OF   POST-PLIOCENE ADVENT   OF   MAN.          287 

Further,  as  the  land  rose,  its  surface  was  greatly 
and  rapidly  modified  by  rains  and  streams.  There 
is  the  amplest  evidence,  both  in  Europe  and  America, 
that  at  this  time  the  erosion  by  these  means  was 
enormous  in  comparison  with  anything  we  now  ex- 
perience. The  rainfall  must  have  been  excessive, 
the  volume  of  water  in  the  streams  very  great;  and 
the  facilities  for  cutting  channels  in  the  old  Pliocene 
valleys,  filled  to  the  brim  with  mud  and  boulder-clay, 
were  unprecedented.  While  the  area  of  the  land 
was  still  limited,  much  of  it  would  be  high  and 
broken,  and  it  would  have  all  the  dampness  of  an 
insular  climate.  As  it  rose  in  height,  plains  which 
had,  while  under  the  sea,  been  loaded  with  the 
debris  swept  from  the  land,  would  be  raised  up  to 
experience  river  erosion.  It  was  the  spring-time  of 
the  Glacial  era,  a  spring  eminent  for  its  melting 
snows,  its  rains,  and  its  river  floods.*  To  an  ob- 
server living  at  this  time  it  would  have  seemed  as 
if  the  slow  process  of  moulding  the  continents  was 
being  pushed  forward  with  unexampled  rapidity. 
The  valleys  were  ploughed  out  and  cleansed,  the 
plains  levelled  and  overspread  with  beds  of  alluvium, 
giving  new  features  of  beauty  and  utility  to  the  land, 
and  preparing  the  way  for  the  life  of  the  Modern 
period,  as  if  to  make  up  for  the  time  which  had 
been  lost  in  the  dreary  Glacial  age.  It  will  readily 
be  understood  how  puzzling  these  deposits  have 

*  Mr.  Tylor  has  well  designated  this  period  as  the  Pluvial 
age.  Journal  of  the  Geological  Society,  1870. 


288       THE  STOEY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

been  to  geologists,  especially  to  those  who  fail  tc 
present  to  their  minds  the  true  conditions  of  the 
period;  and  how  difficult  it  is  to  separate  the  river 
alluvia  of  this  age  from  the  deposits  in  the  seas 
and  estuaries,  and  these  again  from  the  older  Glacial 
beds.  Further,  in  not  a  few  instances  the  animals 
of  a  cold  climate  must  have  lived  in  close  prox- 
imity to  those  which  belonged  to  ameliorated  con- 
ditions, and  the  fossils  of  the  older  Post-pliocene 
must  often,  in  the  process  of  sorting  by  water, 
have  been  mixed  with  those  of  the  newer. 

Many  years  ago  the  brilliant  and  penetrating  in- 
tellect of  Edward  Forbes  was  directed  to  the  question 
of  the  maximum  extent  of  the  later  Post-pliocene  or 
Post-glacial  land;  and  his  investigations  into  the 
distribution  of  the  European  flora,  in  connection  with 
the  phenomena  of  submerged  terrestrial  surfaces,  led 
to  the  belief  that  the  land  had  risen  until  it  was  both 
higher  and  more  extensive  than  at  present.  At  the 
time  of  greatest  elevation,  England  was  joined  to  the 
continent  of  Europe  by  a  level  plain,  and  a  similar 
plain  connected  Ireland  with  its  sister  islands.  Over 
these  plains  the  plants  constituting  the  "  Germanic " 
flora  spread  themselves  into  the  area  of  the  British 
Islands,  and  herds  of  mammoth,  rhinoceros,  and  Irish 
elk  wandered  and  extended  their  range  from  east  to 
west.  The  deductions  of  Forbes  have  been  confirmed 
and  extended  by  others;  and  it  can  scarcely  be 
doubted  that  in  the  Post-glacial  era,  the  land  re- 
gained fully  the  extent  which  it  had  possessed  in  the 


CLOSE   OF   POST-PLIOCENE — ADVENI   OF   MAN.         289 

time  of  the  Pliocene.  In  these  circumstances  the 
loftier  hills  might  still  reach  the  limits  of  perpetual 
snow,  but  their  glaciers  would  no  longer  descend  to 
the  sea.  What  are  now  the  beds  of  shallow  seas 
would  be  vast  wooded  plains,  drained  by  magnificent 
rivers,  whose  main  courses  are  now  submerged,  and 
only  their  branches  remain  as  separate  and  distinct 
streams,  The  cold  but  equable  climate  of  the  Post- 
pliocene  would  now  be  exchanged  for  warm  summers, 
alternating  with  sharp  winters,  whose  severity  would 
be  mitigated  by  the  dense  forest  covering,  which 
would  also  contribute  to  the  due  supply  of  moisture, 
preventing  the  surface  from  being  burnt  into  arid 
plains. 

It  seems  not  improbable  that  it  was  when  the 
continents  had  attained  to  their  greatest  extension 
and  when  animal  and  vegetable  life  had  again  over- 
spread the  new  land  to  its  utmost  limits,  that  man 
was  introduced  on  the  eastern  continent,  and  with 
him  several  mammalian  species,  not  known  in  the 
Pliocene  period,  and  some  of  which,  as  the  sheep, 
the  goat,  the  ox,  and  the  dog,  have  ever  since  been 
his  companions  and  humble  allies.  These,  at  least 
in  the  west  of  Europe,  were  the  "  Palaeolithic  "  men, 
the  makers  of  the  oldest  flint  implements ;  and  armed 
with  these,  they  had  to  assert  the  mastery  of  man 
over  broader  lands  than  we  now  possess,  and  over 
many  species  of  great  animals  now  extinct.  In  thus 
writing,  I  assume  the  accuracy  of  the  inferences  from 
the  occurrence  of  worked  stones  with  the  bones  of 


290  THE    STORY   OP   THE   EARTH   AND   MAN. 

'ost-glacial  animals,  which  must  have  lived  during 
the  condition  of  our  continents  above  referred  to.  If 
these  inferences  are  well  founded,  not  only  did  man 
exist  at  this  time,  but  man  not  even  varietally  distinct 
.from  modern  European  races.  But  if  man  really 
appeared  in  Europe  in  the  Post-glacial  era,  he  was 
destined  to  be  exposed  to  one  great  natural  vicissi- 
tude before  his  permanent  establishment  in  the  world. 
The  land  had  reached  its  maximum  elevation,  but  its 
foundations,  "  standing  in  the  water  and  out  of  the 
water,"  were  not  yet  securely  settled,  and  it  had  to 
take  one  more  plunge-bath  before  attaining  its 
modern  fixity.  This  seems  to  have  been  a  com- 
paratively rapid  subsidence  and  re-elevation,  leaving 
but  slender  traces  of  its  occurrence,  but  changing  to 
some  extent  the  levels  of  the  continents,  and  failing 
to  restore  them  fully  to  their  former  elevation,  so  that 
large  areas  of  the  lower  grounds  still  remained  under 
the  sea.  If,  as  the  greater  number  of  geologists  now 
believe,  man  was  then  on  the  earth,  it  is  not  im- 
possible that  this  constituted  the  deluge  recorded  in 
that  remarkable  <{  log  book  "  of  Noah  preserved  to  us 
in  Genesis,  and  of  which  the  memory  remains  in  the 
traditions  of  most  ancient  nations.  This  is  at  least 
the  geological  deluge  which  separates  the  Post-glacial 
period  from  the  Modern,  and  che  earlier  from  the 
later  pre-historic  period .  of  the  archaeologists.* 


*  I  have  long  thought  that  the  narrative  in  Gen.  vii.  and 
viii.  can  be  understood  only  on  the  supposition  that  it  is  a 
contemporary  journal  or  log  of  an  eye-witness  incorporated  by 


CLOSES    OP   POST-PLIOCENE — ADVENT   0*'   MAN.         291 

Very  important  questions  of  time  are  involved  in 
this  idea  of  Post-glacial  man,  and  much  will  depend, 
in  the  solution  of  these,  on  the  views  which  we  adopt 
as  to  the  rate  of  subsidence  and  elevation  of  the  land. 
If,  with  the  majority  of  British  geologists,  we  hold 
that  it  is  to  be  measured  by  those  slow  movements 
now  in  progress,  the  time  required  will  be  long.  If, 
with  most  Continental  and  some  American  geologists, 
we  believe  in  paroxysmal  movements  of  elevation  and 
depression,  it  may  be  much  reduced.  We  have  seen 
in  the  progress  of  our  inquiries  that  the  movements 
of  the  continents  seem  to  have  occurred  with  acceler- 
ated rapidity  in  the  more  modern  periods.  We  have 
also  seen  that  these  movements  might  depend  on  the 
slow  contraction  of  the  earth's  crust  due  to  cooling, 
but  that  the  effects  of  this  contraction  might  manifest 
themselves  only  at  intervals.  We  have  further  seen 
that  the  gradual  retardation  of  the  rotation  of  the 
earth  furnishes  a  cause  capable  of  producing  eleva- 
tion and  subsidence  of  the  land,  and  that  this  also 
might  be  manifested  at  longer  or  shorter  intervals, 
according  to  the  strength  and  resisting  power  of  the 
crust.  Under  the  influence  of  this  retardation,  so 
long  as  the  crust  of  the  earth  did  not  give  way,  the 
waters  would  be  driven  toward  the  poles,  and  the 

the  author  of  Genesis  in  his  work.  The  dates  of  the  rising  and 
fall  of  the  water,  the  note  of  soundings  over  the  hill-tops  when 
the  maximum  was  attained,  and  many  other  details,  as  well  as 
the  whole  tone  of  the  narrative,  seem  to  require  this  supposi- 
tion, which  also  removes  all  the  difficulties  of  interpretation 
whi?h  have  been  so  much  felt. 


292      THE  STOEY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

northern  land  would  be  submerged;  but  so  soon  as 
the  tension  became  so  great  as  to  rupture  the  solid 
shell,  the  equatorial  regions  would  collapse)  and  the 
northern  land  would  again  be  raised.  The  subsidence 
would  be  gradual,  the  elevation  paroxysmal,  and 
perhaps  intermittent.  Let  us  suppose  that  this  was 
what  occurred  in  the  Glacial  period,  and  that  the 
land  had  attained  to  its  maximum  elevation.  This 
might  not  prove  to  be  permanent;  the  new  balance 
of  the  crust  might  be  liable  to  local  or  general 
disturbance  in  a  minor  degree,  leading  to  subsidence 
and  partial  re-elevation,  following  the  great  Post- 
glacial elevation.  There  is,  therefore,  nothing  un- 
reasonable in  that  view  which  makes  the  subsidence 
and  re-elevation  at  the  close  of  the  Post-glacial 
period  somewhat  abrupt,  at  least  when  compared 
with  some  more  ancient  movements. 

But  what  is  the  evidence  of  the  deposits  formed  at 
this  period  ?  Here  we  meet  with  results  most  diverse 
and  contradictory,  but  I  think  there  can  be  little 
doubt  that  on  this  kind  of  evidence  the  time  required 
for  the  Post-glacial  period  has  been  greatly  exagger- 
ated, especially  by  those  geologists  who  refuse  to 
receive  such  views  as  to  subsidence  and  elevation  as 
those  above  stated.  The  calculations  of  long  time 
based  on  the  gravels  of  the  Somme,  on  the  cone  of 
the  Tiniere,  on  the  peat  bogs  of  France  and  Denmark, 
on  certain  cavern  deposits,  have  all  been  shown  to  be 
more  or  less  at  fault;  and  possibly  none  of  these 
reach  further  back  than  the  six  or  seven  thousand 


CLOSE    OP   POST-PLIOCENE — ADVENT   OP   MAN.         293 

years  which,  according  to  Dr.  Andrews,  have  elapsed 
since  the  close  of  the  boulder-clay  deposits  in 
America.*  I  am  aware  that  such  a  statement  will 
be  regarded  with  surprise  by  many  in  England, 
where  even  the  popular  literature  has  been  penetrated 
with  the  idea  of  a  duration  of  the  human  period 
immensely  long  in  comparison  with  what  used  to  be 
the  popular  belief;  but  I  feel  convinced  that  the 
scientific  pendulum  must  swing  backward  in  this 
direction  nearer  to  its  old  position.  Let  us  look  at  a 
few  of  the  facts.  Much  use  has  been  made  of  the 
"  cone  "  or  delta  of  the  Tiniere  on  the  eastern  side  of 
the  Lake  of  Geneva,  as  an  illustration  of  the  duration 
of  the  Modern  period.  This  little  stream  has  de- 
posited at  its  mouth  a  mass  of  debris  carried  down 
from  the  hills.  This  being  cut  through  by  a  railway, 
is  found  to  contain  Roman  remains  to  a  depth  of  four 
feet,  bronze  implements  to  a  depth  of  ten  feet,  stone 
implements  at  a  depth  of  nineteen  feet.  The  deposit 
ceased  about  three  hundred  years  ago,  and  calculating 
1300  to  1500  years  for  the  Roman  period,  we  should 
have  7000  to  10,000  years  as  the  age  of  the  cone. 
But  before  the  formation  of  the  present  cone,  another 
had  been  formed  twelve  times  as  large.  Thus  for  the 
two  cones  together,  a  duration  of  more  than  90,000 
years  is  claimed.  It  appears,  however,  that  this  cal- 
culation has  been  made  irrespective  of  two  essential 
elements  in  the  question.  No  allowance  has  been 
made  for  the  fact  that  the  inner  layers  of  a  cone  ara 
*  "  Transactions,  Chicago  Academy,"  1871. 


294  THE    STORY   OF   THE   EAETH   AND   MAN. 

necessarily  smaller  than  the  outer ;  nor  for  the  further 
fact  that  the  older  cone  belongs  to  a  distinct  time 
(the  pluvial  age  already  referred  to),  when  the  rainfall 
was  much  larger,  and  the  transporting  power  of  the 
torrent  great  in  proportion.  Making  allowance  for 
these  conditions,  the  age  of  the  newer  cone,  that 
holding  human  remains,  falls  between  4000  and  5000 
years.  The  peat  bed  of  Abbeville,  in  the  north  of 
France,  has  grown  at  the  rate  of  one  and  a  half  to 
two  inches  in  a  century.  Being  twenty-six  feet  in 
thickness,  the  time  occupied  in  its  growth  must  have 
amounted  to  20,000  years ;  and  yet  it  is  probably 
newer  than  some  of  the  gravels  on  the  same  river 
containing  flint  implements.  But  the  composition  of 
the  Abbeville  peat  shows  that  it  *s  a  forest  peat,  and 
the  erect  stems  preserved  in  it  prove  that  in  the  first 
instance  it  must  have  grown  at  the  rate  of  about  three 
feet  in  a  century,  and  after  the  destruction  of  the 
forest  its  rate  of  increase  down  to  the  present  time 
diminished  rapidly  almost  to  nothing.  Its  age  is 
thus  reduced  to  perhaps  less  than  4000  years.  In 
1865  I  had  an  opportunity  to  examine  the  now 
celebrated  gravels  of  St.  Acheul,  on  the  Somme,  by 
some  supposed  to  go  back  to  a  very  ancient  period. 
With  the  papers  of  Prestwich  and  other  able  obser- 
vers in  my  hand,  I  could  conclude  merely  that  the 
undisturbed  gravels  were  older  than  the  Roman 
period,  but  how  much  older  only  detailed  topographical 
surveys  could  prove;  and  that  taking  into  account 
the  probabilities  of  a  different  level  of  the  land,  a 


CLOSE    OF    POST-PLIOCENE ADVENT    OP    MAN.          295 

wooded  condition  of  the  country,  a  greater  rainfall, 
and  a  glacial  filling  of  the  Somme  valley  with  clay 
and  stones  subsequently  cut  out  by  running  water 
the  gravels  could  scarcely  be  older  than  the  Abbeville 
peat.  To  have  published  such  views  in  England 
would  have  been  simply  to  have  delivered  myself 
into  the  hands  of  the  Philistines.  I  therefore  con- 
tented myself  with  recording  my  opinion  in  Canada. 
Tylor  *  and  Andrews  f  have,  however,  I  think, 
subsequently  shown  that  my  impressions  were  correct. 
In  like  manner,  I  fail  to  perceive, — and  I  think  all 
American  geologists  acquainted  with  the  pre-historic 
monuments  of  the  western  continent  must  agree  with 
me, — any  evidence  of  great  antiquity  in  the  caves  of 
Belgium  and  England,  the  kitchen-middens  of  Den- 
mark, the  rock- shelters  of  France,  the  lake  habita- 
tions of  Switzerland.  At  the  same  time,  I  would 
disclaim  all  attempt  to  resolve  their  dates  into  precise 
terms  of  years.  I  may  merely  add,  that  the  elaborate 
and  careful  observations  of  Dr.  Andrews  on  the  raised 
beaches  of  Lake  Michigan, — observations  of  a  much 
more  precise  character  than  any  which,  in  so  far  as  I 
know,  have  been  made  of  such  deposits  in  Europe, — 
enable  him  to  calculate  the  time  which  has  elapsed 
since  North  America  rose  out  of  the  waters  of  the 
Glacial  period  as  between  5500  and  7500  years. 
This  fixes  at  least  the  possible  duration  of  the  human 
period  in  North  America,  though  I  believe  there  are 

*  "  Journal  of  Geological  Society,"  vol.  xxv. 
f  "  Silliman's  Journal,"  1868. 


296      THE  STORY  OF  THE  EAETH  AND  MAN. 

other  lines  of  evidence  which,  would  reduce  the  resi- 
dence of  man  in  America  to  a  much  shorter  time. 
Longer  periods  have,  it  is  true,  been  deduced  from 
the  delta  of  the  Mississippi  and  the  gorge  of  Niagara ; 
but  the  deposits  of  the  former  have  been  found  by 
Hilgard  to  be  in  great  part  marine,  and  the  exca- 
vation of  the  latter  began  at  a  period  probably  long 
Anterior  to  the  advent  of  man. 

But  another  question  remains.  From  the  simi- 
larities existing  in  the  animals  and  plants  of  regions 
in  the  southern  hemisphere  now  widely  separated  by 
the  ocean,  it  has  been  inferred  that  Post-pliocene 
land  of  great  extent  existed  there ;  and  that  on  this 
land  men  may  have  lived  before  the  continents  of 
the  northern  hemisphere  were  ready  for  them.  It 
has  even  been  supposed  that,  inasmuch  as  the  flora 
and  fauna  of  Australia  have  an  aspect  like  that  of  the 
Eocene  Tertiary,  and  very  low  forms  of  man  exist- 
in  that  part  of  the  world,  these  low  races  are  the 
oldest  of  all,  and  may  date  from  Tertiary  times. 
Positive  evidence  of  this,  however,  there  is  none. 
These  races  have  no  monuments ;  nor,  so  far  as 
known,  have  they  left  their  remains  in  Post-pliocene 
deposits.  It  depends  on  the  assumptions  that  the 
ruder  races  of  men  are  the  oldest;  and  that  man 
has  no  greater  migratory  powers  than  other  animals. 
The  first  is  probably  false,  as  being  contrary  to 
history;  and  also  to  the  testimony  of  palaeontology 
with  reference  to  the  laws  of  creation.  The  second 
is  certainly  false ;  for  we  know  that  man  has  managed 


CLOSE   OF   POST-PLIOCENE — ADVENT   OF   MAN.         29? 

to  associate  himself  with  every  existing  fauna  and 
flora,  even  in  modern  times;  and  that  the  most 
modern  races  have  pitched  their  tents  amid  tree- 
ferns  and  Proteaceas,  and  have  hunted  kangaroos 
and  emus.  Further,  when  we  consider  that  the  pro- 
ductions of  the  southern  hemisphere  are  not  only 
more  antique  than  those  of  the  northern,  but,  on  the 
whole,  less  suited  for  the  comfortable  subsistence  of 
man  and  the  animals  most  useful  to  him;  and  that 
the  Post-pliocene  animals  of  the  southern  hemisphere 
were  of  similar  types  with  their  modern  successors, 
we  are  the  less  inclined  to  believe  that  these  regions 

would  be  selected  as  the  cradle  of  the  human  race. 

14 


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•0IOZONIYO 


OIOZ03N 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

CLOSE   OF   THE   POST-PLIOCENE,  AND   ADVENT   OP  MAN. 

(Continued.) 

TUKNING  from  these  difficult  questions  of  time,  we 
may  now  look  at  the  assemblage  of  land-animals 
presented  by  the  Post-glacial  period.  Here,  for  the 
first  time  in  the  great  series  of  continental  eleva- 
tions and  depressions,  we  find  the  newly-emerging 
land  peopled  with  familiar  forms.  Nearly  all  the 
modern  European  animals  have  left  their  bones  ir 
the  clays,  gravels,  and  cavern  deposits  which  belong 
to  this  period;  but  with  them  are  others  either  not 
now  found  within  the  limits  of  temperate  Europe, 
or  altogether  extinct.  Thus  the  remarkable  fact 
comes  out,  that  the  uprising  land  was  peopled  at 
first  with  a  more  abundant  fauna  than  that  which 
it  now  sustains,  and  that  many  species,  and  among 
these  some  of  the  largest  and  most  powerful,  have 
been  weeded  out,  either  before  the  advent  of  man 
or  in  the  changes  which  immediately  succeeded  that 
event.  That  in  the  Post-glacial  period  so  many 
noble  animal  species  should  have  been  overthrown 
in  the  struggle  for  existence,  without  leaving  any 
successors,  at  least  in  Europe,  is  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  phenomena  in  the  history  of  life  on  our 
planet. 


300      THE  STORY  OF  THE  EAETH  AND  MAN. 

//According  to.  Pictet,*  the  Post-glacial  beds  of 
Europe  afford  ninety-eight  species  of  mammals,  of 
which  fifty-seven  still  live  there,  the  remainder  being 
either  locally  or  wholly  extinct.  According  to  Mr, 
Boyd  Dawkins,f  in  Great  Britain  about  twelve  Plio- 
cene species  survived  the  Glacial  period,  and  re- 
appeared in  the  British  Islands  in  the  Post-glacial. 
To  these  were  added  forty-one  species— making  in 
all  fifty-three,  whose  remains  are  found  in  the  gravels 
and  caves  of  the  latter  period.  Of  these,  in  the 
Modern  period  twenty-eight,  or  rather  more  than 
one-half,  survive,  fourteen  are  wholly  extinct,  and 
eleven  are  locally  extinct. 

Among  the  extinct  beasts,  were  some  of  very 
remarkable  character.  There  were  two  or  more  spe- 
cies of  elephant,  which  seem  in  this  age  to  have 
overspread,  in  vast  herds,  all  the  plains  of  Northern 
Europe  and  Asia;  and  one  of  which  we  know,  from 
the  perfect  specimen  found  embedded  in  the  frozen 
soil  of  Siberia,  lived  till  a  very  modern  period;  and 
was  clothed  with  long  hair  and  fur,  fitting  it  for  a 
cold  climate.  There  were  also  three_gr_iatH?--species 
of  rhinoceros,  one  of  which  at  least  (the  R.  Ticho- 
rhinusj^^ro,s  clad  with  wool  like  the  great  Siberian 
mammoth.  With  these  was  a  huge  hippopotamus 
(H.  major),  whose  head- quarters  would,  however, 
seem  to  have  been  farther  south  than  England,  or 

*  Palaeontologie. 

t  "  Journal  of  Geological  Society,"   and  Palseontographical 
Society's  publications. 


302       THE  STORY  OP  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

which  perhaps  inhabited  chiefly  the  swamps  along 
the  large  rivers  running  through  areas  now  under 
the  sea.  The  occurrence  of  such  an  animal  shows 
an  abundant  vegetation,  and  a  climate  so  mild,  that 
the  rivers  were  not  covered  with  heavy  ice  in  winter ; 
for  the  supposition  that  this  old  hippopotamus  was 
a  migratory  animal  seems  very  unlikely.  Another 
animal  of  this  time,  was  the  magnificent  deer,  known 
as  the  Irish  elk;  and  which  perhaps  had  its  prin- 
cipal abode  on  the  great  plain  which  is  now  the  Irish 
Sea.  The  terrible  machairodus,  or  cymetar-toothed 
tiger,  was  continued  from  the  Pliocene ;  and  in  addition 
to  species  of  bear  still  living,  there  was  a  species  of 
gigantic  size,  probably  now  extinct,  the  cave  bear. 
Evidences  are  accumulating,  to  show  that  all  or  nearly 
all  these  survived  until  the  human  period. 

If  we  turn  now  to  those  animals  which  are  only 
locally  extinct,  we  meet  with  some  strange,  and  at 
first  sight  puzzling  anomalies.  Some  of  these  are 
creatures  now  limited  to  climates  much  colder  than 
that  of  Britain.  Others  now  belong  to  warmer  cli- 
mates. Conspicuous  among  the  former  are  the  musk- 
sheep,  the  elk,  the  reindeer,  the  glutton,  and  the 
lemming.  Among  the  latter,  we  see  the  panther, 
the  lion,  and  the  Cape  hyena.  That  animals  now  so 
widely  separated  as  the  musk-sheep  of  Arctic  America 
and  the  hyena  of  South  Africa,  could  ever  have  in- 
habited the  same  forests,  seems  a  dream  of  the  wildest 
fancy.  Yet  it  is  not  difficult  to  find  a  probable  solu- 
tion of  the  mystery.  In  North  America,  at  the  pre- 


CLOSE    OP   POST-PLIOCENE — ADVENT   OF    MAN.         308 

sent  day,  the  puma,  or  American  lion,  comes  up  to 
the  same  latitudes  with  the  caribou,  or  reindeer,  and 
moose;  and  in  Asia,  the  tiger  extends  its  migrations 
into  the  abodes  of  boreal  animals  in  the  plains  of 
Siberia.  Even  in  Europe,  within  the  historic  period, 
the  reindeer  inhabited  the  forests  of  Germany;  and 
the  lion  extended  its  range  nearly  as  far  northward. 
The  explanation  lies  in  the  co-existence  of  a  densely 
wooded  country  with  a  temperate  climate ;  the  forests 
affording  to  southern  animals  shelter  from  the  cold  or 
winter;  and  equally  to  the  northern  animals  protec- 
tion from  the  heat  of  summer.  Hence  our  wonder 
at  this  association  of  animals  of  diverse  habitudes  as 
to  climate,  is  merely  a  prejudice  arising  from  the 
present  exceptional  condition  of  Europe.  Still  it  is 
possible  that  changes  unfavourable  to  some  of  these 
animals,  were  in  progress  before  the  arrival  of  man, 
with  his  clearings  and  forest  fires  and  other  dis- 
turbing agencies.  Even  in  America,  the  megalonyx, 
or  gigantic  sloth,  the  mammoth,  the  mastodon,  the  fossil 
horse,  and  many  other  creatures,  disappeared  before 
the  Modern  period ;  and  on  both  continents  the  great 
Post-glacial  subsidence  or  deluge  may  have  swept 
away  some  of  the  species.  Such  a  supposition  seems 
necessary  to  account  for  the  phenomena  of  the  gravel 
and  cave  deposits  of  England,  and  Cope  has  recently 
suggested  it  in  explanation  of  similar  storehouses  of 
fossil  animals  in  America.* 

*  Proceedings  of  the  American  Philosophical  Society,  April 
1871. 


804      THE  STORY  OF  THE  EAETH  AND  MAN. 

Among  the  many  pictures  which  this  fertile  subject 
calls  up,  perhaps  none  is  more  curious  than  that  pre- 
sented by  the  Post-glacial  cavern  deposits.  We  may 
close  our  survey  of  this  period  with  the  exploration 
of  one  of  these  strange  repositories;  and  may  select 
Kent's  Hole  at  Torquay,  so  carefully  excavated  and 
illumined  with  the  magnesium  light  of  scientific  in- 
quiry by  Mr.  Pengelly  and  a  committee  of  the  British 
Association. 

The  somewhat  extensive  and  ramifying  cavern  of 
Kent's  Hole  is  an  irregular  excavation,  evidently 
due  partly  to  fissures  in  limestone  rock,  and  partly  to 
the  erosive  action  of  water  enlarging  such  fissures 
into  chambers  and  galleries.  At  what  time  it  was 
originally  cut  we  do  not  know,  but  it  must  have 
existed  as  a  cavern  at  the  close  of  the  Pliocene  or 
beginning  of  the  Post-pliocene  period,  since  which 
time  it  has  been  receiving  a  series  of  deposits  which 
have  quite  filled  up  some  of  its  smaller  branches. 

First  and  lowest,  according  to  Mr.  Pengelly,  is  a 
"  breccia/'  or  mass  of  broken  and  rounded  stones, 
with  hardened  red  clay  filling  the  interstices.  Most  of 
the  stones  are  of  the  rock  which  forms  the  roof  and 
walls  of  the  cave,  but  many,  especially  the  rounded 
ones,  are  from  more  distant  parts  of  the  surrounding 
country.  In  this  mass,  the  depth  of  which  is  un- 
known, are  numerous  bones,  all  of  one  kind  of  animal, 
the  cave  bear,  a  creature  which  seems  to  have  lived  in 
Western  Europe  from  the  close  of  the  Pliocene  down 
to  the  modern  period.  It  must  have  been  one  of  the 


CLOSE    OP    POST-PLIOCENE — ADVENT   OP   MAN.        305 

earliest  and  most  permanent  tenants  of  Kent's -Hole  at 
a  time  when  its  lower  chambers  were  still  filled  with 
water.  Next  above  the  breccia  is  a  floor  of  "  stalag- 
mite/' or  stony  carbonate  of  lime,  deposited  from  the 
drippings  of  the  roof,  and  in  some  places  three  feet 
thick.  This  also  contains  bones  of  the  cave  bear, 
deposited  when  there  was  less  access  of  water  to  the 
cavern.  Mr.  Pengelly  infers  the  existence  of  man  at 
this  time  from  a  single  flint  flake  and  a  single  flint 
chip  found  in  these  beds ;  but  mere  flakes  and  chips  of 
flint  are  too  often  natural  to  warrant  such  a  conclusion. 
After  the  old  stalagmite  floor  above  mentioned  was 
formed,  the  cave  again  received  deposits  of  muddy 
water  and  stones ;  but  now  a  change  occurs  in  the 
remains  embedded.  This  stony  clay,  or  "cave  earth/' 
has  yielded  an  immense  quantity  of  teeth  and  bones,  in- 
cluding those  of  the  elephant,  rhinoceros,  horse,  hyena, 
cave  bear,  reindeer,  and  Irish  elk.  With  these  were 
found  weapons  of  chipped  flint,  and  harpoons,  needles, 
and  bodkins  of  bone,  precisely  similar  to  those  of  the 
North  American  Indians  and  other  rude  races.  The 
"  cave  earth  "  is  four  feet  or  more  in  thickness,  It  is 
not  stratified,  and  contains  many  fallen  fragments  of 
rock,  rounded  stones,  and  broken  pieces  of  stalagmite. 
It  also  has  patches  of  the  excrement  of  hyenas,  which 
the  explorers  suppose  to  indicate  the  temporary  resi- 
dence of  these  animals  ;  and  in  one  spot,  near  the  top,  is 
a  limited  layer  of  burnt  wood,  with  remains  which  in- 
dicate the  cooking  and  eating  of  repasts  of  animal  food 
by  man.  It  is  clear  that  when  this  bed  was  formed 

14* 


306      THE  STORY  OF  THE  EAETH  AND  MATT. 

the  cavern  was  liable  to  be  inundated  with  muddy 
water,  i-arryrag  stones  and  other  heavy  objects,  and 
breaking  up  in  places  the  old  stalagmite  floor.  One  of 
the  most  puzzling  features,  especially  to  those  who 
take  an  exclusively  uniformitarian  view,  is,  that  the 
entrance  of  water-borne  mud  and  stones  implies  a 
level  of  the  bottom  of  the  water  in  the  neighbouring 
valleys  of  about  100  feet  above  its  present  height. 
The  cave  earth  is  covered  by  a  second  crust  of  stalag- 
mite, less  dense  and  thick  than  that  below,  and  con- 
taining only  a  few  bones,  which  are  of  the  same 
general  character  with  those  below,  but  include  a  frag- 
ment of  a  human  jaw  with  teeth.  Evidently,  when  this 
stalagmite  was  formed,  the  influx  of  water-borne 
materials  had  ceased,  or  nearly  so ;  but  whether  the 
animals  previously  occupying  the  country  still  con- 
tinued in  it,  or  only  accidental  bones,  etc.,  were 
introduced  into  the  cave  or  lifted  from  the  bed  below, 
does  not  appear. 

The  next  bed  marks  a  new  change.  It  is  a  layer 
of  black  mould  from  three  to  ten  inches  thick.  Its 
microscopic  structure  does  not  seem  to  have  been 
examined ;  but  it  is  probably  a  forest  soil,  introduced 
by  growth,  by  water,  by  wind,  and  by  ingress  of 
animals,  at  a  time  when  the  cave  was  nearly  in  its 
present  state,  and  the  surrounding  country  densely 
wooded.  This  bed  contains  bones  of  animals,  all  of 
them  modern,  and  works  of  art  ranging  from  the  old 
British  times  before  the  Roman  invasion  up  to  the 
porter-bottles  and  dropped  halfpence  of  modern  visi- 


CLOSE    OF   POST- PLIOCENE — ADVENT   OF  MAN.        307 

tors.  Lastly,  in  and  upon  the  black  mould  are  man1? 
fallen  blocks  from  the  roof  of  the  cave. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  this  cave  and  the  neigh- 
bouring one  of  Brixham  have  done  very  much  to 
impress  the  minds  of  British  geologists  with  ideas  of 
the  great  antiquity  of  man,  and  they  have,  more  than 
any  other  Post-glacial  monuments,  shown  the  persis- 
tence of  some  animals  now  extinct  up  to  the  human 
age.  Of  precise  data  for  determining  time,  they  have, 
however,  given  nothing.  The  only  measures  which 
seed  to  have  been  applied,  namely,  the  rate  of 
growth  of  stalagmite  and  the  rate  of  erosion  of  the 
neighbouring  valleys,  are,  from  the  very  sequence 
of  the  deposits,  obviously  worthless;  and  the  only 
apparently  available  constant  measure,  namely,  the 
fall  of  blocks  from  the  roof,  seems  not  yet  to  have 
been  applied.  We  are  therefore  quite  uncertain  as  to 
the  number  of  centuries  involved  in  the  filling  of  this 
cave,  and  must  remain  so  until  a  surer  system  of  cal- 
culation is  adopted.  We  may,  however,  attempt  to 
sketch  the  series  of  events  which  it  indicates. 

The  animals  found  in  Kent's  Hole  are  all  tf  Post- 
glacial/' They  therefore  inhabited  the  country  after 
it  rose  from  the  great  Glacial  submergence.  Perhaps 
the  first  colonists  of  the  coasts  of  Devonshire  in  this 
period  were  the  cave  bears,  migrating  on  floating  ice, 
and  subsisting,  like  the  Arctic  bear,  and  the  black 
bears  of  Anticosti,  on  fish,  and  on  the  garbage  cast 
up  by  the  sea.  They  found  Kent's  Hole  a  sea- side 
cavern,  with  perhaps  some  of  its  galleries  still  full  of 


308       THE  STOEY  OP  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

water,  and  filling  with,  breccia,  with  which  the  bonea 
of  dead  bears  became  mixed.  As  the  land  rose,  these 
creatures  for  the  most  part  betook  themselves  to  lower 
levels,  and  in  process  of  time  the  cavern  stood  upon  a 
hill-side,  perhaps  several  hundreds  of  feet  above  the 
sea ;  and  the  mountain  torrents,  their  beds  not  yet 
emptied  of  glacial  detritus,  washed  into  it  stones  and 
mud  and  carcases  of  animals  of  many  species  which 
had  now  swarmed  across  the  plains  elevated  out  of  the 
sea,  and  multiplied  in  the  land.  This  was  the  time  of 
the  cave  earth ;  and  before  its  deposit  was  completed, 
though  how  long  before,  a  confused  and  often-dis- 
turbed bed  of  this  kind  cannot  tell,  man  himself  seems 
to  have  been  added  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  British 
land.  In  pursuit  of  game  he  sometimes  ascended  the 
valleys  beyond  the  cavern,  or  even  penetrated  into  its 
outer  chambers;  or  perhaps  there  were  even  in 
those  days  rude  and  savage  hill-men,  inhabiting  the 
forests  and  warring  with  the  more  cultivated  denizens 
of  plains  below,  which  are  now  deep  under  the  waters. 
Their  weapons,  lost  in  hunting,  or  buried  in  the  flesh 
of  wounded  animals  which  crept  to  the  streams  to 
assuage  their  thirst,  are  those  found  in  the  cave 
earth.  The  absence  of  human  bones  may  merely  show 
that  the  mighty  hunters  of  those  days  were  too  hardy, 
athletic,  and  intelligent,  often  to  perish  from  accidental 
causes,  and  that  they  did  not  use  this  cavern  for  a 
place  of  burial.  But  the  land  again  subsided.  The 
valley  of  that  now  nameless  river,  of  which  the  Rhine 
the  Thames,  and  the  Severn  may  have  alike  been  tribu 


CLOSE    OP   POST-PLIOCENE — ADVENT   OF   MAN.        309 

taries,  disappeared  under  the  sea;  and  some  tribb, 
driven  from  the  lower  lands,  took  refuge  in  this  cave, 
now  again  near  the  encroaching  waves,  and  left  there 
the  remains  of  their  last  repasts  ere  they  were  driven 
farther  inland  or  engulfed  in  the  waters.  For  a  time 
the  cavern  may  have  been  wholly  submerged,  and  the 
charcoal  of  the  extinguished  fires  became  covered  with 
its  thin  coating  of  clay.  But  ere  long  it  re-emerged  to 
form  part  of  an  island,  long  barren  and  desolate ;  and 
the  valleys  having  been  cut  deeper  by  the  receding 
waters,  it  no  longer  received  muddy  deposits,  and 
the  crust  formed  by  drippings  from  its  roof  contained 
only  bones  and  pebbles  washed  by  rains  or  occasional 
land  floods  from  its  own  clay  deposits.  Finally,  the 
modern  forests  overspread  the  land,  and  were  tenanted 
by  the  modern  animals.  Man  returned  to  use  the 
cavern  again  as  a  place  of  refuge  or  habitation,  and  to 
leave  there  the  relics  contained  in  the  black  earth. 
This  seems  at  present  the  only  intelligible  history  of 
this  curious  cave  and  others  resembling  it ;  though, 
when  we  consider  the  imperfection  of  the  results 
obtained  even  by  a  large  amount  of  labour,  and  the 
difficult  and  confused  character  of  the  deposits  in  this 
and  similar  caves,  too  much  value  should  not  be 
attached  to  such  histories,  which  may  at  any  time  be 
contradicted  or  modified  by  new  facts  or  different 
explanations  of  those  already  known.  The  time  in- 
volved depends  very  much,  as  already  stated,  on  the 
question  whether  we  regard  the  Post-glacial  sub- 
sidence and  re-elevation  as  somewhat  sudden,  or  aa 


310       THE  STORY  OP  TFB  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

occupying  long  ages  at  the  slow   rate   at  which   some 
parts  of  our  continents  are  now  rising  or  sinking,* 

Such  are  the  glimpses,  obscure  though  stimulating 
to  the  imagination,  which  geology  can  give  of  the  cir- 
cumstances attending  the  appearance  of  man  in  Western 
Europe.  How  far  we  are  from  being  able  to  account 
for  his  origin,  or  to  give  its  circumstances  and  relative 
dates  for  the  whole  world,  the  reader  will  readily 
understand.  Still  it  is  something  to  know  that  there 
is  an  intelligible  meeting-place  of  the  later  geological 
ages  and  the  age  of  man,  and  that  it  is  one  inviting  to 
many  and  hopeful  researches.  It  is  curious  also  to  find 
that  the  few  monuments  disinterred  by  geology,  the 
antediluvian  record  of  Holy  Scripture,  and  the  golden 
age  of  heathen  tradition,  seem  alike  to  point  to 
similar  physical  conditions,  and  to  that  simple  state 
of  the  arts  of  life  in  which  tc  gold  and  wampum 
and  flint  stones "  t  constituted  the  chief  material 
treasures  of  the  earliest  tribes  of  men.  They  also 
point  to  the  immeasurable  elevation,  then  as  now,  of 
man  over  his  brute  rivals  for  the  dominion  of  the 
earth.  To  the  naturalist  this  subject  opens  up  most 
inviting  yet  most  difficult  paths  of  research,  to  be 

*  Another  element  in  this  is  also  the  question  raised  by 
Dawkins,  Geikie,  and  others  as  to  subdivisions  of  the  Post- 
glacial period  and  intermissions  of  the  Glacial  cold.  After 
careful  consideration  of  these  views,  however,  I  cannot  consider 
them  as  of  much  importance. 

•f  So  I  read  the  "  gold,  bedolah,  and  shoham  "  of  the  descrip 
tion  of  Eden  in  Genesis  ii. — the  oldest  literary  record  of  the 
stone  age. 


CLOSE   OP   POST- PLIOCENE — ADVENT   OF   MAN.        311 

entered  on  with  caution  and  reverence,  rather  than  in 
the  bold  and  dashing  spirit  of  many  modern  attempts. 
The  Christian,  on  his  part,  may  feel  satisfied  that  the 
scattered  monumental  relics  of  the  caves  and  gravels 
will  tell  no  story  very  different  from  that  which  he  has 
long  believed  on  other  evidence,  nor  anything  incon- 
sistent with  those  views  of  man's  heavenly  origin 
and  destiny  which  have  been  the  most  precious  inheri- 
tance of  the  greatest  and  best  minds  of  every  age, 
from  that  early  pre-historic  period  when  men,  "  palaeo- 
lithic "  men,  no  doubt,  began  to  "  invoke  the  name  of 
Jehovah/'  the  coming  Saviour,  down  to  those  times 
when  life  and  immortality  are  brought  to  light,  for  all 
who  will  see,  by  the  Saviour  already  come. 

In  completing  this  series  of  pictures,  I  wish 
emphatically  to  insist  on  the  imperfection  of  the 
sketches  which  I  have  been  able  to  present,  and  which 
are  less,  in  comparison  with  the  grand  march  of  the 
creative  work,  even  as  now  imperfectly  known  to 
science,  than  the  roughest  pencilling  of  a  child 
when  compared  with  a  finished  picture.  If  they 
have  any  popular  value,  it  will  be  in  presenting 
such  a  broad  general  view  of  a  great  subject  as  may 
induce  further  study  to  fill  up  the  details.  If  they 
have  any  scientific  value,  it  will  be  in  removing  the 
minds  of  British  students  for  a  little  from  the  too  ex- 
clusive study  of  their  own  limited  marginal  area,  which 
has  been  to  them  too  much  the  (c  celestial  empire " 
around  which  all  other  countries  must  be  arranged, 
and  in  divesting  the  subject  of  the  special  colour- 


312       THE  STORY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

ing  given  to  it  by  certain  prominent  cliques  aii«J 
parties. 

Geology  as  a  science  is  at  present  in  a  peculiar  and 
somewhat  exceptional  state.  Under  the  influence  of 
a  few  men  of  commanding  genius  belonging  to  the 
generation  now  passing  away,  it  has  made  so  gigantic 
conquests  that  its  armies  have  broken  up  into  bands 
of  specialists,  little  better  than  scientific  banditti, 
liable  to  be  beaten  in  detail,  and  prone  to  commit 
outrages  on  common  sense  and  good  taste,  which 
bring  their  otherwise  good  cause  into  disrepute. 
The  leaders  of  these  bands  are,  many  of  them,  good 
soldiers,  but  few  of  them  fitted  to  be  general  officers, 
and  none  of  them  able  to  reunite  our  scattered  de- 
tachments. We  need  larger  minds,  of  broader  cul- 
ture and  wider  sympathies,  to  organise  and  rule  the 
lands  which  we  have  subdued,  and  to  lead  on  to 
further  conquests. 

In  the  present  state  of  natural  science  in  Britain, 
this  evil  is  perhaps  to  be  remedied  only  by  providing 
a  wider  and  deeper  culture  for  our  young  men.  Few 
of  our  present  workers  have  enjoyed  that  thorough 
training  in  mental  as  well  as  physical  science,  which 
is  necessary  to  enable  men  even  of  great  powers  to 
take  large  and  lofty  views  of  the  scheme  of  nature. 
Hence  we  often  find  men  who  are  fair  workers  in 
limited  departments,  reasoning  most  illogically,  taking 
narrow  and  local  views,  elevating  the  exception  into 
the  rule,  led  away  by  baseless  metaphysical  subtleties, 
quarrelling  with  men  who  look  at  their  specialties 


CLOSE    OF   POST-PLIOCENE — ADVENT   OF   MAN.       313 

from  a  different  point  of  view,  and  even  striving  and 
plotting  for  the  advancement  of  their  own  hobbies. 
Such  defects  certainly  mar  much  of  the  scientific 
work  now  being  done.  In  the  more  advanced  walks 
of  scientific  research,  they  are  to  some  extent  neutral- 
ised by  that  free  discussion  which  true  science  always 
fosters ;  though  even  here  they  sometimes  vexatiously 
arrest  the  progress  of  truth,  or  open  floodgates  of 
error  which  it  may  require  much  labour  to  close.  But 
in  public  lectures  and  popular  publications  they  run 
riot,  and  are  stimulated  by  the  mistaken  opposition  of 
narrow-minded  good  men,  by  the  love  of  the  new  and 
sensational,  and  by  the  rivalry  of  men  struggling  for 
place  and  position.  To  launch  a  clever  and  startling 
fallacy  which  will  float  for  a  week  and  stir  up  a  hard 
fight,  seems  almost  as  great  a  triumph  as  the  dis- 
covery of  an  important  fact  or  law;  and  the  honest 
student  is  distracted  with  the  multitude  of  doctrines, 
and  hustled  aside  by  the  crowd  of  ambitious  ground- 
lings. 

The  only  remedy  in  the  case  is  a  higher  and  more 
general  scientific  education ;  and  yet  I  do  not  wonder 
that  many  good  men  object  to  this,  simply  because 
of  the  difficulty  of  finding  honest  and  competent 
teachers,  themselves  well  grounded  in  their  subjects, 
and  free  from  that  too  common  insanity  of  specialists 
and  half-educated  men,  which  impels  them  to  run 
amuck  at  everything  that  does  not  depend  on  their 
own  methods  of  research.  This  is  a  difficulty  which 
can  be  met  in  our  time  only  by  the  general  good 


814       THE  STOEY  OP  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

sense  and  right  feeling  of  the  community  taking  a 
firm  hold  of  the  matter,  and  insisting  on  the  or- 
ganization and  extension  of  the  higher  scientific 
education,  as  well'  as  that  of  a  more  elementary 
character>  under  the  management  of  able  and  sane 
men.  Yet  even  if  not  so  counteracted,  present  follies 
will  pass  away,  and  a  new  and  better  state  of  natural 
science  will  arise  in  the  future,  by  its  own  internal 
development.  Science  cannot  long  successfully  isolate 
itself  from  God.  Its  life  lies  in  the  fact  that  it  is  the 
exponent  of  the  plans  and  works  of  the  great  Creative 
Will.  It  must,  in  spite  of  itself,  serve  His  purposes, 
by  dispelling  blighting  ignorance  and  superstition, 
by  lighting  the  way  to  successive  triumphs  of  human 
skill  over  the  powers  of  nature,  and  by  guarding  men 
from  the  evils  that  flow  from  infringement  of  natural 
laws.  And  it  cannot  fail,  as  it  approaches  nearer  to 
the  boundaries  of  that  which  may  be  known  by  finite 
minds,  to  be  humbled  by  the  contemplation  of  the 
infinite,  and  to  recognise  therein  that  intelligence  of 
which  the  human  mind  is  but  the  image  and  shadow. 

It  may  be  that  theologians  also  are  needed  who  shall 
be  fit  to  take  the  place  of  Moses  to  our  generation,  in 
teaching  it  again  the  very  elements  of  natural  theo- 
logy; but  let  them  not  look  upon  science  as  a  cold 
and  godless  demon,  holding  forth  to  the  world  a 
poisoned  cup  cunningly  compounded  of  truth  and 
falsehood;  but  rather  as  the  natural  ally  and  as- 
sociate of  the  gospel  of  salvation.  The  matter  is  so 
put  in  one  of  those  visions  which  close  the  canon  of 


CLOSE    OP   POST-PLIOCENE ADVENT    OF   MAN.        315 

revelation,  when  the  prophet  sees  a  mighty  angel 
having  the  "everlasting  gospel  to  preach ;"  but  he 
begins  his  proclamation  by  calling  on  men  to 
"  worship  Him  that  made  heaven  and  earth  and  the 
sea  and  the  fountains  of  waters.3'  Men  must  know 
God  as  the  Creator  even  before  they  seek  Him  as 
a  benefactor  and  redeemer.  Thus  religion  must  go 
hand  in  hand  with  all  true  and  honest  science.  In 
this  way  only  may  we  look  forward  to  a  time  when 
a  more  exact  and  large-minded  science  shall  be  in 
perfect  accord  with  a  more  pure  and  spiritual 
Christianity,  when  the  natural  and  the  spiritual  shall 
be  seen  to  be  the  necessary  complements  of  each 
other,  and  when  we  shall  hear  no  more  of  reconcilia- 
tions between  science  and  theology,  because  there 
will  be  no  quarrels  to  reconcile.  Already,  even  ii» 
the  present  chaos  of  scientific  and  religious  opinion, 
indications  can  be  seen  by  the  observant,  that  the 
Divine  Spirit  of  order  is  breathing  on  the  mass,  and 
will  evolve  from  it  new  and  beautiful  worlds  of 
mental  and  spiritual  existence. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

PRIMITIVE  MAN.       CONSIDERED  WITH  REFERENCE  TO  MODERfl 
THEORIES  AS   TO   HIS    ORIGIN. 

THE  geological  record,  as  we  have  been  reading  it, 
introduces  us  to  primitive  man,  but  gives  us  no 
distinct  information  as  to  his  origin.  Tradition  and 
revelation  have,  it  is  true,  their  solutions  of  the 
mystery,  but  there  are,  and  always  have  been,  many 
who  will  not  take  these  on  trust,  but  must  grope  for 
themselves  with  the  taper  of  science  or  philosophy 
into  the  dark  caverns  whence  issue  the  springs  of 
humanity.  In  former  times  it  was  philosophic  specu- 
lation alone  which  lent  its  dim  and  uncertain  light  to 
these  bold  inquirers ;  but  in  our  day  the  new  and 
startling  discoveries  in  physics,  chemistry,  and  biology 
have  flashed  up  with  an  unexpected  brilliancy,  and 
have  at  least  served  to  dazzle  the  eyes  and  encourage 
the  hopes  of  the  curious,  and  to  lead  to  explorations 
more  bold  and  systematic  than  any  previously  under- 
taken. Thus  has  been  born  amongst  us,  or  rather 
renewed,  for  it  is  a  very  old  thing,  that  evolutionist 
philosophy,  which  has  been  well  characterised  as  the 
<(  baldest  of  all  the  philosophies  which  have  sprung  up 
in  our  world,"  and  which  solves  the  question  of  human 
origin  by  the  assumption  that  human  nature  exists 
potentially  in  mere  inorganic  matter,  and  that  a  chain 


PRIMITIVE    MAN.  317 

of  spontaneous  derivation  connects  incandescent  mole- 
cules or  star-dust  with  the  world,  and  with  man 
himself. 

This  evolutionist  doctrine  is  itself  one  of  the 
strangest  phenomena  of  humanity.  It  existed,  and 
most  naturally,  in  the  oldest  philosophy  and  poetry, 
in  connection  with  the  crudest  and  most  uncritical, 
attempts  of  the  human  mind  to  grasp  the  system  of 
nature ;  but  that  in  our  day  a  system  destitute  of 
any  shadow  of  proof,  and  supported  merely  by  vague 
analogies  and  figures  of  speech,  and  by  the  arbitrary 
and  artificial  coherence  of  its  own  parts,  should  be 
accepted  as  a  philosophy,  and  should  find  able  ad- 
herents to  string  upon  its  thread  of  hypotheses  our 
vast  and  weighty  stores  of  knowledge,  is  surpassingly 
strange.  It  seems  to  •  indicate  that  the  accumulated 
facts  of  our  age  have  gone  altogether  beyond  its 
capacity  for  generalisation;  and  but  for  the  vigour 
which  one  sees  everywhere,  it  might  be  taken  as  an 
indication  that  the  human  mind  has  fallen  into  a 
state  of  senility,  and  in  its  dotage  mistakes  for  science 
the  imaginations  which  were  the  dreams  of  its  youth. 

In  many  respects  these  speculations  are  important 
and  worthy  of  the  attention  of  thinking  men.  They 
seek  to  revolutionise  the  religious  beliefs  of  the  world, 
and  if  accepted  would  destroy  most  of  the  existing 
theology  and  philosophy.  They  indicate  tendencies 
among  scientific  thinkers,  which,  though  probably 
temporary,  must,  before  they  disappear,  descend  to 
lower  strata,  and  reproduce  themselves  in  grosser 


318       THE  STOEY  OP  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

forms,  and  with  most  serious  effects  on  the  whole 
structure  of  society.  With  one  class  of  minds  they 
constitute  a  sort  of  religion,  which  so  far  satisfies  the 
craving  for  truths  higher  than  those  which  relate  to 
immediate  wants  and  pleasures.  With  another  and 
perhaps  larger  class,  they  are  accepted  as  affording  a 
welcome  deliverance  from  all  scruples  of  conscience 
and  fears  of  a  hereafter.  In  the  domain  of  science 
evolutionism  has  like  tendencies.  It  reduces  the  posi- 
tion of  man,  who  becomes  a  descendant  of  inferior 
animals,  and  a  mere  term  in  a  series  whose  end  is 
unknown.  It  removes  from  the  study  of  nature  the 
ideas  of  final  cause  and  purpose ;  and  the  evolutionist, 
instead  of  regarding  the  world  as  a  work  of  consum- 
mate plan,  skill,  and  adjustment,  approaches  nature  as 
he  would  a  chaos  of  fallen  rocks,  which  may  present 
forms  of  castles  and  grotesque  profiles  of  men  and 
animals,  but  they  are  all  fortuitous  and  without 
significance.  It  obliterates  the  fine  perception  of 
differences  from  the  mind  of  the  naturalist,  and 
resolves  all  the  complicated  relations  of  living  things 
into  some  simple  idea  of  descent  with  modification. 
It  thus  destroys  the  possibility  of  a  philosophical 
classification,  reducing  all  things  to  a  mere  series, 
and  leads  to  a  rapid  decay  in  systematic  zoology  and 
botany,  which  is  already  very  manifest  among  the 
disciples  of  Spencer  and  Darwin  in  England.  The 
effect  of  this  will  be,  if  it  proceeds  further,  in  a  great 
degree  to  destroy  the  educational  value  and  popular 
interest  attaching  to  these  sciences,  and  to  throw  then? 


PRIMITIVE    MAN.  319 

down  at  the  feet  of  a  system  of  debased  metaphysics. 
As  redeeming  features  in  all  this,  are  the  careful 
study  of  varietal  forms,  and  the  inquiries  as  to  the 
limits  of  species,  which  have  sprung  from  these  dis- 
cussions, and  the  harvest  of  which  will  be  reaped  by 
the  true  naturalists  of  the  future. 

Thus  these  theories  as  to  the  origin  of  men  and 
animals  and  plants  are  full  of  present  significance, 
and  may  be  studied  with  profit  by  all ;  and  in  no  part 
of  their  applications  more  usefully  than  in  that  which 
relates  to  man.  Let  us  then  inquire, — 1.  What  is 
implied  in  the  idea  of  evolution  as  applied  to  man  ? 
2.  What  is  implied  in  the  idea  of  creation  ?  3.  How 
these  several  views  accord  with  what  we  actually  know 
as  the  result  of  scientific  investigation  ?  The  first  and 
second  of  these  questions  may  well  occupy  the  whole 
of  this  chapter,  and  we  shall  be  able  merely  to  glance 
at  their  leading  aspects.  In  doing  so,  it  may  be  well 
first  to  place  before  us  in  general  terms  the  several 
alternatives  which  evolutionists  offer,  as  to  the  mode  in 
which  the  honour  of  an  origin  from  apes  or  ape-like 
animals  can  be  granted  to  us,  along  with  the  opposite 
view  as  to  the  independent  origin  of  man  which  have 
been  maintained  either  on  scientific  or  scriptural 
grounds. 

All  the  evolutionist  theories  of  the  origin  of  man 
depend  primarily  on  the  possibility  of  his  having 
been  produced  from  some  of  the  animals  more  closely 
allied  to  him,  by  the  causes  now  in  operation  which 
lead  to  varietal  forms,  or  by  similar  causes  which  have 


320      THE  STORY  OP  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

been  in  operation ;  and  some  attach  more  and  others 
less  weight  to  certain  of  these  causes,  or  gratuitously 
suppose  others  not  actually  known.  Of  such  causes 
of  change  some  are  internal  and  others  external  to 
the  organism.  With  respect  to  the  former,  one 
school  assumes  an  innate  tendency  in  every  species  to 
change  in  the  course  of  time.*  Another  believes  in 
exceptional  births,  either  in  the  course  of  ordinary 
generation  or  by  the  mode  of  parthenogenesis. f  An- 
other refers  to  the  known  facts  of  reproductive 
^accetSration  or  retardation  observed  in  some  humble 
creatures. J  New  forms  arising  in  any  of  these  ways 
or  fortuitously,  may,  it  is  supposed,  be  perpetuated  and 
increased  and  further  improved  by  favouring  external 
circumstances  and  the  effort  of  the  organism  to  avail 
itself  of  these,  §  or  by  the  struggle  for  existence  and 
the  survival  of  the  fittest.  || 

On  the  other  hand,  those  who  believe  in  the  inde- 
pendent origin  of  man  admit  the  above  causes  as 
adequate  only  to  produce  mere  varieties,  liable  to 
return  into  the  original  stock.  They  may  either 
hold  that  man  has  appeared  as  a  product  of  special 
and  miraculous  creation,  or  that  he  has  been  created 
mediately  by  the  operation  of  forces  also  concerned 
in  the  production  of  other  animals,  but  the  precise 
nature  of  which  is  still  unknown  to  us ;  or  lastly,  they 
may  hold  what  seems  to  be  the  view  favoured  by  the 
book  of  Genesis,  that  his  bodily  form  is  a  product 

*  Parsons,   Owen.  f  Mivart,  Ferris. 

J  Hyatt  and  Cope.         §  Lamarck,  etc.         ]|  Darwin,  etc. 


PRIMITIVE    MAN. 

of  mediate  creation  and  his  spiritual  nature  a  direct 
emanation  from  his  Creator. 

The  discussion  of  all  these  rival  theories  would 
occupy  volumes,  and  to  follow  them  into  details 
would  require  investigations  which  have  already 
bewildered  many  minds  of  some  scientific  culture. 
Further,  it  is  the  belief  of  the  writer  that  this  plung- 
ing into  multitudes  of  details  has  been  fruitful  of 
error,  and  that  it  will  be  a  better  course  to  endeavour 
to  reach  the  root  of  the  matter  by  looking  at  the 
foundations  of  the  general  doctrine  of  evolution  itself, 
and  then  contrasting  it  with  its  rival. 

Taking,  then,  this  broad  view  of  the  subject,  two 
great  leading  alternatives  are  presented  to  us.  Either 
man  is  an  independent  product  of  the  will  of  a 
Higher  Intelligence,  acting  directly  or  through  the 
laws  and  materials  of  his  own  institution  and  produc- 
tion, or  he  has  been  produced  by  an  unconscious 
evolution  from  lower  things.  It  is  true  that  many  evo- 
lutionists, either  unwilling  to  offend,  or  not  perceiving 
the  logical  consequences  of  their  own  hypothesis, 
endeavour  to  steer  a  middle  course,  and  to  maintain 
that  the  Creator  has  proceeded  by  way  of  evolution. 
But  the  bare,  hard  logic  of  Spencer,  the  greatest  Eng- 
lish authority  on  evolution,  leaves  no  place  for  this  com- 
promise,  and  shows  that  the  theory,  carried  out  to  its 
legitimate  consequences,  excludes  the  knowledge  of  a 
Creator  and  the  possibility  of  His  work.  We  have, 
therefore,  to  choose  between  evolution  and  creation ; 

bearing  in  mind,  however,  that  there  may  be  a  place 

15 


822  THE    STOftY   OF   THE   EARTH   AND   MAN. 

in  nature  for  evolution,  properly  limited,  as  well  as  for 
other  things,  and  that  the  idea  of  creation  by  no  means 
exclud.es  law  and  second  causes. 

Limiting  ourselves  in  the  first  place  to  theories 
of  evolution,  and  to  these  as  explaining  the  origin 
of  species  of  living  beings,  and  especially  of  man, 
we  naturally  first  inquire  as  to  the  basis  on  which 
they  are  founded.  Now  no  one  pretends  that  they 
rest  on  facts  actually  observed,  for  no  one  has  ever 
observed  the  production  of  even  one  species.  Nor 
do  they  even  rest,  like  the  deductions  of  theoretical 
geology,  on  the  extension  into  past  time  of  causes 
of  change  now  seen  to  be  in  action.  Their  proba- 
bility depends  entirely  on  their  capacity  to  account 
hypothetically  for  certain  relations  of  living  creatures 
to  each  other,  and  to  the  world  without;  and  the 
strongest  point  of  the  arguments  of  their  advocates  is 
the  accumulation  of  cases  of  such  relations  supposed 
to  be  accounted  for.  Such  being  the  kind  of  argu- 
ment with  which  we  have  to  deal,  we  may  first 
inquire  what  we  are  required  to  believe  as  conditions 
of  the  action  of  evolution,  and  secondly,  to  what  ex- 
tent it  actually  does  explain  the  phenomena. 

In  the  first  place,  as  evolutionists,  we  are  required 
to  assume  certain  forces,  or  materials,  or  both,  with 
which  evolution  shall  begin.  Darwin,  in  his  Origin 
of  Species,  went_ao__far  as  to  assume  the  existence  of 
a  few  of  the  simpler  types  of  animals ;  but  this  view, 
of  course,  was  only  a  temporary  resting-place  for  his 
theory.  Others  assume  a  primitive  protoplasm,  or 


PRIMITIVE   MAN.  323 

physical  basis  of  life,  and  arbitrarily  assigning  to 
this  substance  properties  now  divided  between  or- 
ganised and  unorganised,  and  between  dead  and 
living  matter,  find  no  difficulty  in  deducing  all  plants 
and  animals  from  it.  Still,  even  this  cannot  have 
been  the  ultimate  material.  It  must  have  been 
evolved  from  something.  We  are  thus  brought 
back  to  certain  molecules  of  star-dust,  or  certain 
conflicting  forces,  which  must  have  had  self-exist- 
ence, and  must  have  potentially  included  all  subse- 
quent creatures.  Otherwise,  if  with  Spencer  we 
hold  that  God  is  " unknowable/'  and  creation  "un- 
thinkable," we  are  left  suspended  on  nothing  over 
a  bottomless  void,  and  must  adopt  as  the  initial 
-proposition  of  our  philosophy,  that  all  things  were 
made  out  of  nothing,  and  by  nothing;  unless  we 
prefer  to  doubt  whether  anything  exists,  and  to 
push  the  doctrine  of  relativity  to  the  unscientific 
extreme  of  believing  that  we  can  study  the  relations 
of  things  non-existent  or  unknown.  So  we  must 
allow  the  evolutionist  some  small  capital  to  start 
with;  observing,  however,  that  self -existent  matter 
in  a  state  of  endless  evolution  is  something  of  which 
we  cannot  possibly  have  any  definite  conception. 

Being  granted  thus  much,  the  evolutionist  next 
proceeds  to  demand  that  we  shall  also  believe  in  the 
indefinite  variability  of  material  things,  and  shall  set 
aside  all  idea  that  there  is  any  difference  in  kind 
between  the  different  substances  which  T^e  know. 
They  must  all  be  mutually  convertible,  or  at  least 


324      THE  STORY  OF  THE  EAETH  AND  MAN. 

derivable  from  some  primitive  material.  It  is  trui 
that  this  is  contrary  to  experience.  The  chemist 
holds  that  matter  is  of  different  kinds,  that  one 
element  cannot  be  converted  into  another;  and  he 
would  probably  smile  if  told  that,  even  in  the  lapse 
of  enormous  periods  of  time,  limestone  could  be 
evolved  out  of  silica.  He  may  think  that  this  is 
very  different  from  the  idea  that  a  snail  can  be 
evolved  from  an  oyster,  or  a  bird  from  a  reptile. 
But  the  zoologist  will  inform  him  that  species  of 
animals  are  only  variable  within  certain  limits,  and 
are  not  transmutable,  in  so  far  as  experience  and 
experiment  are  concerned.  They  have  their  allotro- 
pic  forms,  but  cannot  be  changed  into  one  another. 

But  if  we  grant  this  second  demand,  the  evolutionist 
has  a  third  in  store  for  us.  We  must  also  admit  that 
by  some  inevitable  necessity  the  changes  of  things 
must  in  the  main  take  place  in  one  direction,  from 
the  more  simple  to  the  more  complex,  from  the  lower 
to  the  higher.  At  first  sight  this  seems  not  only  to 
follow  from  the  previous  assumptions,  but  to  accord 
with  observation.  Do  not  all  living  things  rise  from 
a  simpler  to  a  more  complex  state  ?  has  not  the 
history  of  the  earth  displayed  a  gradually  increasing 
elevation  and  complexity?  But,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  complex  organism  becoming  mature,  resolves 
itself  again  into  the  simple  germ,  and  finally  is  dis- 
solved into  its  constituent  elements.  The  complex 
returns  into  the  simple,  and  what  we  see  is  not  an 
evolution,  but  a  revolution.  In  like  manner,  in 


PEIMITIVB   MAN.  325 

geological  time,  the  tendency  seems  to  be  ever  to 
disintegration  and  decay.  This  we  see  everywhere, 
and  find  that  elevation  occurs  only  by  the  introduc- 
tion of  new  species  in  a  way  which  is  not  obvious, 
and  which  may  rather  imply  the  intervention  of  a 
cause  from  without ;  so  that  here  also  we  are  required 
to  admit  as  a  general  principle  what  is  contrary  to 
experience. 

If,  however,  we  grant  the  evolutionist  these  pos- 
tulates, we  must  next  allow  him  to  take  the  facts  of 
botany  and  zoology  out  of  their  ordinary  connection, 
and  thread  them  like  a  string  of  beads,  as  Herbert 
Spencer  has  done  in  his  "  Biology,"  on  the  threefold 
cord  thus  fashioned.  This  done,  we  next  find,  as 
might  have  been  expected,  certain  gaps  or  breaks 
which  require  to  be  cunningly  filled  with  artificial 
material,  in  order  to  give  an  appearance  of  continuity 
to  the  whole. 

The  first  of  these  gaps  which  we  notice  is  that 
between  dead  and  living  matter.  It  is  easy  to  fill 
this  with  such  a  term  as  protoplasm,  which  includes 
matter  both  dead  and  living,  and  so  to  ignore  this 
distinction ;  but  practically  we  do  not  yet  know  as  a 
possible  thing  the  elevation  of  matter,  without  the 
agency  of  a  previous  living  organism,  from  that  plane 
in  which  it  is  subject  merely  to  physical  force,  and  is 
unorganised,  to  that  where  it  becomes  organised,  and 
lives.  Under  that  strange  hypothesis  of  the  origin 
of  life  from  meteors,  with  which  Sir  William  Thomson 
closed  his  address  at  a  late  meeting  of  the  British 


326       THE  STORY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

Association,  there  was  concealed  a  cutting  sarcasrc 
which  the  evolutionists  felt.  It  reminded  them  that 
the  men  who  evolve  all  things  from  physical  forces 
do  not  yet  know  how  these  forces  can  produce  the 
phenomena  of  life  even  in  its  humblest  forms.  It 
is  true  that  the  scientific  world  has  been  again  and 
again  startled  by  the  announcement  of  the  produc- 
tion of  some  of  the  lowest  forms  of  life,  either  from 
dead  organic  matter,  or  from  merely  mineral  sub- 
stances ;  but  in  every  case  heretofore  the  effort  has 
proved  as  vain  as  the  analogies  attempted  to  be  set 
up  between  the  formation  of  crystals  and  that  of 
organized  tissues  are  fallacious. 

A  second  gap  is  that  which  separates  vegetable  and 
animal  life.  These  are  necessarily  the  converse  of 
each  other,  the  one  deoxidizes  and  accumulates,  the 
other  oxidizes  and  expends.  Only  in  reproduction 
or  decay  does  the  plant  simulate  the  action  of  the 
animal,  and  the  animal  never  in  its  simplest  forms 
assumes  the  functions  of  the  plant.  Those  obscure 
cases  in  the  humbler  spheres  of  animal  and  vegetable 
life  which  have  been  supposed  to  show  a  union  of 
the  two  kingdoms,  disappear  on  investigation.  This 
gap  can,  I  believe,  be  filled  up  only  by  an  appeal  to 
our  ignorance.  There  may  be,  or  may  have  been, 
some  simple  creature  unknown  to  us,  on  the  extreme 
verge  of  the  plant  kingdom,  that  was  capable  of 
passing  the  limit  and  becoming  an  animal.  But  no 
proof  of  this  exists.  It  is  true  that  the  primitive 
germs  of  many  kinds  of  humble  plants  and  animala 


PRIMITIVE    MAN.  327 

are  so  much  alike,  that  much  confusion  has  arisen  in 
tracing  their  development.  It  is  also  true  that  some 
of  these  creatures  can  subsist  under  very  dissimilar 
conditions,  and  in  very  diverse  states,  and  that  under 
the  specious  name  of  Biology,*  we  sometimes  find  a 
mass  of  these  confusions,  inaccurate  observations  and 
varietal  differences  made  to  do  duty  for  scientific  facts. 
But  all  this  does  not  invalidate  the  grand  primary 
distinction  between  the  animal  and  the  plant,  which 
should  be  thoroughly  taught  and  illustrated  to  all 
young  naturalists,  as  one  of  the  best  antidotes  to 
the  fallacies  of  the  evolutionist  school. 

A  third  is  that  between  any  species  of  animal  or 
plant  and  any  other  species.  It  was  this  gap,  and 
this  only,  which  Darwin  undertook  to  fill  up  by  his 
great  work  on  the  origin  of  species,  but,  notwith- 
standing the  immense  amount  of  material  thus  ex- 
pended, it  yawns  as  wide  as  ever,  since  it  must  be 

*  It  is  doubtful  whether  men  who  deny  the  existence  of  vital 
force  have  a  right  to  call  their  science  "  Biology,"  any  more 
than  atheists  have  to  call  their  doctrine  "  Theology ; "  and  it  is 
certain  that  the  assumption  of  a  science  of  Biology  as  distinct 
from  Phytology  and  Zoology,  or  including  both,  is  of  the 
nature  of  a  "  pious  fraud  "  on  the  part  of  the  more  enlightened 
evolutionists.  The  objections  stated  in  the  text,  to  what  have 
been  called  Archebiosis  and  Heterogenesis  seem  perfectly  ap- 
plicable, in  so  far  as  I  can  judge  from  a  friendly  review  by 
Wallace,  to  the  mass  of  heterogeneous  material  accumulated 
by  Dr.  Bastian  in  his  recent  volumes.  The  conclusions  of 
this  writer,  would  also,  if  established,  involve  evolution  in  a 
fatal  embarras  des  richesses,  by  the  hourly  production  during 
all  geological  time,  of  millions  of  new  forms  all  capable  of 
indefinite  development. 


828      THE  STORY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

admitted  that  no  case  has  been  ascertained  in  which 
an  individual  of  one  species  has  transgressed  the 
limits  between  it  and  other  species.  However  ex- 
tensive the  varieties  produced  by  artificial  breeding, 
the  essential  characters  of  the  species  remain,  and 
even  its  minor  characters  may  be  reproduced,  while 
the  barriers  established  in  nature  between  species  by 
the  laws  of  their  reproduction,  seem  to  be  absolute, 

With  regard  to  species,  however,  it  must  be 
observed  that  naturalists  are  not  agreed  as  to  what 
constitutes  a  species.  Many  so-called  species  are 
probably  races ,  or  varieties,  and  one  benefit  of  these 
inquiries  has  been  to  direct  attention  to  the  proper 
discrimination  of  species  from  varieties  among  animals 
and  plants.  The  loose  discrimination  of  species,  and 
the  tendency  to  multiply  names,  have  done  much  to 
promote  evolutionist  views ;  but  the  researches  of  the 
evolutionists  themselves  have  shown  that  we  must 
abandon  transmutation  of  true"  species  as  a  thing  of 
the  present;  and  if  we  imagine  it  to  have  occurred, 
must  refer  it  to  the  past. 

Another  gap  is  that  between  the  nature  of  the 
animal  and  the  self-conscious,  reasoning,  moral  nature 
of  man.  We  not  only  have  no  proof  that  any  animal 
can,  by  any  force  in  itself,  or  by  any  merely  physical 
influences  from  without,  rise  to  such  a  condition; 
but  the  thing  is  in  the  highest  degree  improbable. 
It  is  easy  to  affirm,  with  the  grosser  materialists,  that 
thought  is  a  secretion  of  brain,  as  bile  is  of  the 
liver;  but  a  moment's  thought  shows  that  no  real 


PRIMITIVE    MAN.  323 

analogy  obtains  between  the  cases.  We  may  vaguely 
suppose,  with  Darwin,  that  the  continual  exercise  of 
such  powers  as  animals  possess,  may  have  developed 
those  of  man.  But  our  experience  of  animals  shows 
that  their  intelligence  differs  essentially  from  that  of 
man,  being  a  closed  circle  ever  returning  into  itself, 
while  that  of  man  is  progressive,  inventive,  and  ac- 
cumulative, and  can  no  more  be  correlated  with  that 
of  the  animal  than  the  vital  phenomena  of  the  animal 
with  those  of  the  plant.  Nor  can  the  gap  between 
the  higher  religious  and  moral  sentiments  of  man, 
and  the  instinctive  affections  of  the  brutes,  be  filled 
up  with  that  miserable  ape  imagined  by  Lubbock, 
which,  crossed  in  love,  or  pining  with  cold  and 
hunger,  conceived,  for  the  first  time  in  its  poor 
addled  pate,  "the  dread  of  evil  to  come,"  and  so 
became  the  father  of  theology.  This  conception, 
which  Darwin  gravely  adopts,  would  be  most  ludi 
crous,  but  for  the  frightful  picture  which  it  gives 
of  the  aspect  in  which  religion  appears  to  the  mind 
of  the  evolutionist. 

The  reader  will  now  readily  perceive  that  the  sim- 
plicity and  completeness  of  the  evolutionist  theory 
entirely  disappear  when  we  consider  the  unproved 
assumptions  on  which  it  is  based,  and  its  failure  to 
connect  with  each  other  some  of  the  most  important 
facts  in  nature :  that,  in  short,  it  is  not  in  any  true 
sense  a  philosophy,  but  merely  an  arbitrary  arrange- 
ment of  facts  in  accordance  with  a  number  of  unproved 
hypotheses]  "Such  philosophies,  "  falsely  so  called/' 


330  THE    STOEY    OP   THE    E^RTH    AND    MAN. 

have  existed  ever  since  man  began  to  reason  on  nature, 
and  this  last  of  them  is  one  of  the  weakest  and  most 
pernicious  of  the  whole.  Let  the  reader  take  up 
either  of  Darwin's  great  books,  or  Spencer's  "Bio- 
logy," and  merely  ask  himself  as  he  reads  each  para- 
graph, "What  is  assumed  here  and  what  is  provedj" 
and  he  will  find  the  whole  fabric  melt  away  like  a 
vision.  He  will  find,  however,  one  difference  between 
these  writers.  Darwin  always  states  facts  carefully 
and  accurately,  arid  when  he  comes  to  a  difficulty 
tries  to  meet  it  fairly.  Spencer  often  exaggerates  or 
extenuates  with  reference^oTirfs  facts,  and  uses  the 
arts  of  the  dialectician  where  argument  fails. 

Many  naturalists  who  should  know  better  are  puz- 
zled with  the  great  array  of  facts  presented  by 
evolutionists ;  and  while  their  better  judgment  causes 
them  to  doubt  as  to  the  possibility  of  the  structures 
which  they  study  being  produced  by  such  blind  and 
material  processes,  are  forced  to  admit  that  there 
must  surely  be  something  in  a  theory  so  confidently 
asserted,  supported  by  so  great  names,  and  by  such 
an  imposing  array  of  relations  which  it  can  explain. 
They  would  be  relieved  from  their  weak  concessions 
were  they  to  study  carefully  a  few  of  the  instances 
adduced,  and  to  consider  how  easy  it  is  by  a  little 
ingenuity  to  group  undoubted  facts  around  a  false 
theory.  I  could  wish  to  present  here  illustrations  of 
this,  which  abound  in  every  part  of  the  works  I  have 
referred  to,  but  space  will  not  permit.  One  or  two 
must  suffice.  The  first  may  be  taken  from  one  of 


PRIMITIVE    MAN.  331 

fche  strong  points  often  dwelt   on   by  Spencer  in  his 
"Biology."* 

"  But  the  experiences  which  most  clearly  illustrate 
to  us  the  process  of  general  evolution  are  our  ex- 
periences of  special  evolution,  repeated  in  every  plant 
and  animal.  Each  organism  exhibits,  within  a  short 
space  of  time,  a  series  of  changes  which,  when  sup- 
posed to  occupy  a  period  indefinitely  great  and  to 
go  on  in  various  ways  instead  of  one,  may  give  us 
a  tolerably  clear  conception  of  organic  evolution  in 
general.  In  an  individual  development  we  have  com- 
pressed into  a  comparatively  infinitesimal  space  a 
series  of  metamorphoses  equally  vast  with  those 
which  the  hypothesis  of  evolution  assumes  to  have 
taken  place  during  those  unmeasurable  epochs  that 
the  earth's  crust  tells  us  of.  A  tree  differs  from  a 
seed  immeasurably  in  every  respect — in  bulk,  in 
structure,  in  colour,  in  form,  in  specific  gravity,  in 
chemical  composition :  differs  so  greatly  that  no 
visible  resemblance  of  any  kind  can  be  pointed  out 
between  them.  Yet  is  the  one  changed  in  the 
course  of  a  few  years  into  the  other ;  changed  so 
gradually  that  at  no  moment  can  it  be  said,  'Now 
the  seed  ceases  to  be  and  the  tree  exists/  What 
can  be  more  widely  contrasted  than  a  newly-born 
child  and  the  small  gelatinous  spherule  constituting 
the  human  ovum  ?  The  infant  is  so  complex  in 
structure  that  a  cyclopaedia  is  needed  to  describe  its 
constituent  parts.  The  germinal  vesicle  is  so  simple 
0  "Principles  of  Biology,"  §  118. 


332       THE  8TORY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

that  it  may  be  defined  in  a  line.  ...  If  a  single 
cell  under  appropriate  conditions  becomes  a  man  in 
the  space  of  a  few  years,  there  can  surely  be  no  diffi- 
culty in  understanding  how,  under  appropriate  con- 
ditions, a  cell  may  in  the  course  of  untold  millions  of 
years  give  origin  to  the  human  race." 

"It  is  true  that  many  minds  are  so  unfurnished 
with  those  experiences  of  nature,  out  of  which  this 
conception  is  built,  that  they  find  difficulty  in  form- 
ing it.  ...  To  such  the  hypothesis  that  by  any 
series  of  changes  a  protozoan  should  ever  give  origin 
to  a  mammal  seems  grotesque — as  grotesque  as  did 
Galileo's  assertion  of  the  earth's  movement  seem  to 
the  Aristoteleans ;  or  as  grotesque  as  the  assertion 
of  the  earth's  sphericity  seems  now  to  the  New 
Zealanders." 

I  quote  the  above  as  a  specimen  of  evolutionist 
reasoning  from  the  hand  of  a  master,  and  as  referring 
to  one  of  the  corner-stones  of  this  strange  philosophy. 
I  may  remark  with  respect  to  it,  in  the  first  place, 
that  it  assumes  those  "  conditions "  of  evolution  to 
which  I  have  already  referred.  In  the  second  place, 
it  is  full  of  inaccurate  statements  of  fact,  all  in  a 
direction  tending  to  favour  the  hypothesis.  For  ex- 
ample, a  tree  does  not  differ  "  immeasurably  "  from  a 
Beed,  especially  if  the  seed  is  of  the  same  species  of 
tree,  for  the  principal  parts  of  the  tree  and  its 
principal  chemical  constituents  already  exist  and  can 
be  detected  in  the  seed,  and  unless  it  were  so,  the 
development  of  the  tree  from  the  seed  could  not  take 


PEIMIT1VE   MAN.  333 

place.  Besides,  tht  seed  itself  is  not  a  thing  seJ- 
existent  or  fortuitous.  The  production  of  a  seed 
without  a  previous  tree  of  the  same  kind  is  quite  as 
difficult  to  suppose  as  the  production  of  a  tree  with- 
out a  previous  seed  containing  its  living  embryo.  In 
the  third  place,  the  whole  argument  is  one  of  analogy. 
The  germ  becories  a  mature  animal,  passing  through 
many  intermediate  stages,  therefore  the  animal  may 
have  descended  from  some  creature  which  when 
mature  was  as  simple  as  the  germ.  The  value  of 
such  an  analogy  depends  altogether  on  the  similarity 
of  the  "  conditions/'  which,  in  such  a  case,  are  really 
the  efficient  causes  at  work.  The  germ  of  a  mammal 
becomes  developed  by  the  nourishment  supplied  from 
the  system  of  a  parent,  which  itself  produced  the 
germ,  and  into  whose  likeness  the  young  animal  is 
destined  to  grow.  These  are  the  "  appropriate  con- 
ditions" of  its  development.  But  when  our  author 
assumes  from  this  other  ' '  appropriate  conditions,"  by 
which  an  organism,  which  on  the  hypothesis  is  not  a 
germ  but  a  mature  animal,  shall  be  developed  into  the 
likeness,  of  something  different  from  its  parent,  he 
oversteps  the  bounds  of  legitimate  analogy.  Further, 
the  reproduction  of  the  animal,  as  observed,  is  a 
closed  series,  beginning  at  the  embryo  and  returning 
thither  again ;  the  evolution  attempted  to  be  estab- 
lished is  a  progressive  series  going  on  from  one  stage 
to  another.  A  reproductive  circle  once  established 
obeys  certain  definite  laws,  but  its  origin,  or  how  it 
can  leave  its  orbit  and  revolve  in  some  other,  we 


331     .  THE  STORY  OP  THE  EAETH  AND  MAN. 

cannot  explain  without  the  introduction  of  some  ne'W 
efficient  cause.  The  one  term  of  the  analogy  is  a 
revolution,  and  the  other  is  an  evolution.  The  re- 
volution within  the  circle  of  the  reproduction  of  the 
species  gives  no  evidence  that  at  some  point  the  body 
will  fly  off  at  a  tangent,  and  does  not  even  inform  us 
whether  it  is  making  progress  in  space.  Even  if  it 
is  so  making  progress,  its  orbit  of  revolution  may 
remain  the  same.  But  it  may  be  said  the  reproduc- 
tion of  the  species  is  not  in  a  circle  but  in  a  spiral. 
Within  the  limit  of  experience  it  is  not  so,  since, 
however  it  may  undulate,  it  always  returns  into 
itself.  But  supposing  it  to  be  a  spiral,  it  may  ascend 
or  descend,  or  expand  and  contract;  but  this  does 
not  connect  it  with  other  similar  spirals,  the  separate 
origin  of  which  is  to  be  separately  accounted  for. 

I  have  quoted  the  latter  part  of  the  passage  because 
it  is  characteristic  of  evolutionists  to  decry  the  intel- 
ligence of  those  who  differ  from  them.  Now  it  is  fair 
to  admit  that  it  requires  some  intelligence  and  some 
knowledge  of  nature  to  produce  or  even  to  understand 
such  analogies  as  those  of  Mr.  Spencer  and  his  fol- 
lowers, but  it  is  no  less  true  that  a  deeper  insight 
into  the  study  of  nature  may  not  only  enable  us  to 
understand  these  analogies,  but  to  detect  their 
fallacies.  I  am  sorry  to  say,  however,  that  at  pre- 
sent the  hypothesis  of  evolution  is  giving  so  strong 
a  colouring  to  much  of  popular  and  even  academic 
teaching,  more  especially  in  the  easy  and  flippant 
conversion  of  the  facts  of  embryology  into  instances 


PRIMITIVE   MAN.  335 

of  evolution  on  the  plan  of  the  above  extract,  that  the 
Spencerians  may  not  long  have  to  complain  of  want 
of  faith  and  appreciation  on  the  part  of  the  improved 
apes  whom  they  are  kind  enough  to  instruct  as  to 
their  lowly  origin. 

The  mention  of  "  appropriate  conditions  *'  in  the 
above  extract  reminds  me  of  another  fatal  objection 
to  evolution  which  its  advocates  continually  overlook. 
An  animal  or  plant  advancing  from  maturity  to  the 
adult  state  is  in  every  stage  of  its  progress  a  complete 
and  symmetrical  organism,  correlated  in  all  its  parts 
and  adapted  to  surrounding  conditions.  Suppose  it 
to  become  modified  in  any  way,  to  ever  so  small  an 
extent,  the  whole  of  these  relations  are  disturbed. 
If  the  modification  is  internal  and  spontaneous,  there 
is  no  guarantee  that  it  will  suit  the  vastly  numerous 
external  agencies  to  which  the  creature  is  subjected. 
If  it  is  produced  by  agencies  from  without,  there  is 
no  guarantee  that  it  will  accord  with  the  internal 
relations  of  the  parts  modified.  The  probabilities  are 
incalculably  great  against  the  occurrence  of  many 
such  disturbances  without  the  breaking  up  altogether 
of  the  nice  adjustment  of  parts  and  conditions.  This 
is  no  doubt  one  reason  of  the  extinction  of  so  many 
species  in  geological  time,  and  also  of  the  strong 
tendency  of  every  species  to  spring  back  to  its  normal 
condition  when  in  any  way  artificially  caused  to  vary. 
It  is  also  connected  with  the  otherwise  mysterious  law 
of  the  constant  transmission  of  all  the  characters  oi 
the  parent. 


336       THE  STOEY  OP  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

Spencer  and  Darwin  occasionally  see  this  difficulty, 
though  they  habitually  neglect  it  in  their  reasonings. 
Spencer  even  tries  to  turn  one  part  of  it  to  account  as 
follows  : — 

"  Suppose  the  head  of  a  mammal  to  become  very 
much  more  weighty — what  must  be  the  indirect  re- 
sults? The  muscles  of  the  neck  are  put  to  greater 
exertions;  and  the  vertebras  have  to  bear  additional 
tensions  and  pressures  caused  both  by  the  increased 
weight  of  the  head  and  the  stronger  contraction  of 
muscles  that  support  and  move  the  head/'  He  goes 
on  to  say  that  the  processes  of  the  vertebrae  will  have 
augmented  strains  put  upon  them,  the  thoracic  region 
and  fore  limbs  will  have  to  be  enlarged,  and  even  the 
hind  limbs  may  require  modification  to  facilitate  loco- 
motion. He  concludes  :  "  Any  one  who  compares  the 
outline  of  the  bison  with  that  of  its  congener,  the 
ox,  will  clearly  see  how  profoundly  a  heavier  head 
affects  the  entire  osseous  and  muscular  system." 

We  need  not  stop  to  mention  the  usual  inaccuracies 
as  to  facts  in  this  paragraph,  as,  for  example,  the 
support  of  the  head  being  attributed  to  muscles 
alone,  without  reference  to  the  strong  elastic  liga- 
ment of  the  neck.  We  may  first  notice  the  assump- 
tion that  an  animal  can  acquire  a  head  "very  much 
more  weighty  "  than  that  which  it  had  before,  a  very 
improbable  supposition,  whether  as  a  monstrous  birth 
Dr  as  an  effect  of  external  conditions  after  birth.  But 
suppose  this  to  have  occurred,  and  what  is  even  lesa 
likely,  that  the  very  much  heavier  head  is  an  advan- 


- 


PEIMIT1VE    MAN.  337 

fcage  in  some  way,  what  guarantee  can  evolution  give 
us  that  the  number  of  other  modifications  required 
would  take  place  simultaneously  with  this  acquisition  t 
It  would  be  easy  to  show  that  this  would  depend 
on  the  concurrence  of  hundreds  of  other  conditions 
within  and  without  the  animal,  all  of  which  must 
co-oporate  to  produce  the  desired  effect,  if  indeed  they 
could  produce  this  effect  even  by  their  conjoint  action, 
a  power  which  the  writer,  it  will  be  observed,  quietly 
assumes,  as  well  as  the  probability  of  the  initial 
change  in  the  head.  Finally,  the  naivete  with  which 
it  is  assumed  that  the  bison  and  the  ox  are  examples 
of  such  an  evolution,  would  be  refreshing  in  these 
artificial  days,  if  instances  of  it  did  not  occur  in  almost 
every  page  of  the  writings  of  evolutionists. 

It  would  only  weary  the  reader  to  follow  evolution 
any  further  into  details,  especially  as  my  object  in 
this  chapter  is  to  show  that  generally,  and  as  a 
theory  of  nature  and  of  man,  it  has  no  good  founda- 
tion; but  we  should  not  leave  the  subject  without 
noting  precisely  the  derivation  of  ma;a  according  to 
this  theory ;  and  for  this  purpose  I  n  ay  quote  Dar- 
win's summary  of  his  conclusions  on  the  subject.* 

"  Man,"  says   Mr.  Darwin,  "  is  descended   from  a\ 
hairy   quadruped,  furnished  with  a   tail   and   pointed 
ears,  probably  arboreal  in  its  habits,  and  an  inhabit- 
ant of  the  Old  World.      This  creature,  if  its  whole 
structure  had  been  examined  by  a  naturalist,  would 
have  been  classed  amongst  the  quadrumana,  as  surely  / 
*  "  Descent  of  Man,"  part  ii.,  ch.  21. 


338      THE  STOKY  OP  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

as  would  tlie  common,  and  still  more  ancient,  pro-, 
genitor  of  th.3  Old  and  New  World  monkeys.  The 
quadrumana  and  all  the  higher  mammals  are  probably 
derived  from  an  ancient  marsupial  animal ;  and  this, 
through  a  long  line  of  diversified  forms,  either  from 
some  reptile-like  or  some  amphibian -like  creature, 
and  this  again  from  some  fish-like  animal.  In  the 
dim  obscurity  of  the  past  we  can  see  that  the  early 
progenitor  of  all  the  vertebrata  must  have  been  an 
aquatic  animal,  provided  with  branchiae,  with  the 
two  sexes  united  in  the  same  individual,  and  with 
the  most  important  organs  of  the  body  (such  aa 
the  brain  and  heart)  imperfectly  developed.  This 
t  animal  seems  to  have  been  more  like  the  larvae  of  our 
existing  marine  Ascidians  than  any  other  form  known." 
The  author  of  this  passage,  in  condescension  to  our 
weakness  of  faith,  takes  us  no  further  back  than  to  an 
Ascidian,  or  "  sea-squirt,"  the  resemblance,  however, 
of  which  to  a  vertebrate  animal  is  merely  analogical, 
and,  though  a  very  curious  case  of  analogy,  altogether 
temporary  and  belonging  to  the  young  state  of  the 
creature,  without  affecting  its  adult  state  or  its  real 
affinities  with  other  mollusks.  In  order,  however, 
to  get  the  Ascidian  itself,  he  must  assume  all  the 
"  conditions  "  already  referred  to  in  the  previous  part 
of  this  article,  and  fill  most  of  the  gaps.  He  has, 
however,  in  the  " Origin  of  Species"  and  " Descent 
of  Man,"  attempted  merely  to  fill  one  of  the  breaks 
in  the  evolutionary  series,  that  between  distinct 
epecies,  leaving  us  to  receive  all  the  rest  oa  mere 


PRIMITIVE    MAN.  339 

faith.  Even  in  respect  to  the  question  of  species, 
in  all  the  long  chain  between  the  Ascidian  and  the 
man,  he  has  not  certainly  established  one  link;  and 
in  the  very  last  change,  that  from  the  ape-like 
ancestor,  he  equally  fails  to  satisfy  us  as  to  matters 
so  trivial  as  the  loss  of  the  hair,  which,  on  the 
hypothesis,  clothed  the  pre-human  back,  and  on 
matters  so  weighty  as  the  dawn  of  human  reason 
and  conscience. 

We  thus  see  that  evolution  as  an  hypothesis  has  no 
basis  in  experience  or  in  scientific  fact,  and  that  its 
imagined  series  of  transmutations  has  breaks  which 
cannot  be  filled.  We  have  now  to  consider  how  it 
stands  with  the  belief  that  man  has  been  created  by 
a  higher  power.  Against  this  supposition  the  evolu- 
tionists try  to  create  a  prejudice  in  two  ways.  First, 
they  maintain  with  Herbert  Spencer  that  the  hypo- 
thesis of  creation  is  inconceivable,  or,  as  they  say, 
ff  unthinkable ;"  an  assertion  which,  when  examined, 
proves  to  mean  only  that  we  do  not  know  perfectly 
the  details  of  such  an  operation,  an  objection  equally 
fatal  to  .the  origin  either  of  matter  or  life,  on  the 
hypothesis  of  evolution.  Secondly,  they  always  refer 
to  creation  as  if  it  must  be  a  special  miracle,  in  the 
sense  of  a  contravention  of  or  departure  from  ordinary 
natural  laws ;  but  this  is  an  assumption  utterly  without 
proof,  since  creation  may  be  as  much  according  to  law 
as  evolution,  though  in  either  case  the  precise  laws 
involved  may  be  very  imperfectly  known. 

How  absurd,  they  say,  to  imagine  an  animal  created 


340      THE  STOEY  OP  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

at  once,  fully  formed,  by  a  special  miracle,  instead  of 
supposing  it  to  be  slowly  elaborated  through,  countless 
ages  of  evolution.  To  Darwin  the  doctrine  of  crea- 
tion is  but  "  a  curious  illustration  of  the  blindness  of 
preconceived  opinion."  "  These  authors,"  he  says, 
"  seem  no  more  startled  at  a  miraculous  act  of  creation 
than  at  an  ordinary  birth ;  but  do  they  really  believe 
that  at  innumerable  periods  in  the  earth's  history, 
certain  elemental  atoms  have  been  commanded  sud- 
denly to  flash  into  living  tissues  ? "  Darwin,  with  all 
his  philosophic  fairness,  sometimes  becomes  almost 
Spencerian  in  his  looseness  of  expression ;  and  in  the 
above  extract,  the  terms  "  miraculous,"  "  innumer- 
able/' " elemental  atoms,"  "suddenly,"  and  " flash," 
all  express  ideas  in  no  respect  necessary  to  the  work  of 
creation.  Those  who  have  no  faith  in  evolution  as  a 
cause  of  the  production  of  species,  may  well  ask  in 
return  how  the  evolutionist  can  prove  that  creation 
must  be  instantaneous,  that  it  must  follow  no  law,  that 
it  must  produce  an  animal  fully  formed,  that  it  must 
be  miraculous.  In  short,  it  is  a  portion  of  the  policy 
of  evolutionists  to  endeavour  to  tie  down  their  oppo- 
nents to  a  purely  gratuitous  and  ignorant  view  of 
creation,  and  then  to  attack  them  in  that  position. 

What,  then,  is  the  actual  statement  of  the  theory  of 
creation  as  it  may  be  held  by  a  modern  man  of 
science  ?  Simply  this ;  that  all  things  have  been 
produced  by  the  Supreme  Creative  Will,  acting  either 
directly  or  through  the  agency  of  the  forces  and 
materials  of  His  own  production. 


PEIMITIVE    MAN.  341 

This  theory  does  not  necessarily  affirm  that  creation 
is  miraculous,  in  the  sense  of  being  contrary  to  or 
subversive  of  law  •  law  and  order  are  as  applicable  to 
creation  as  to  any  other  process.  It  does  not  contradict 
the  idea  of  successive  creations.  There  is  no  necessity 
that  the  process  should  be  instantaneous  and  without 
progression.  It  does  not  imply  that  all  kinds  of 
creation  are  alike.  There  may  be  higher  and  lower 
kinds.  It  does  not  exclude  the  idea  of  similarity  or 
dissimilarity  of  plan  and  function  as  to  the  products 
of  creation.  Distinct  products  of  creation  may  be 
either  similar  to  each  other  in  different  degrees,  or 
dissimilar.  It  does  not  even  exclude  evolution  or 
derivation  to  a  certain  extent :  anything  once  created 
may,  if  sufficiently  flexible  and  elastic,  be  evolved  or 
involved  in  various  ways.  Indeed,  creation  and  deriva- 
tion may,  rightly  understood,  be  complementary  to 
each  other.  Created  things,  unless  absolutely  un- 
changeable, must  be  more  or  less  modified  by  influences 
from  within  and  from  without,  and  derivation  or  evo- 
lution may  account  for  certain  subordinate  changes 
of  things  already  made.  Man,  for  example,  may  be  a 
product  of  creation,  yet  his  creation  may  have  been  in 
perfect  harmony  with  those  laws  of  procedure  which 
the  Creator  has  set  for  His  own  operations.  He  may 
have  been  preceded  by  other  creations  of  things  more 
or  less  similar  or  dissimilar.  He  may  have  been 
created  by  the  same  processes  with  some  or  all  of 
these,  or  by  different  means.  His  body  may  have 
been  created  in  one  way,  his  soul  in  another.  He 


342       THE  STORY  OF  THE  EAETH  AND  MAN. 

may,  nay,  in  all  probability  would  be,  part  of  a  plan 
of  which  some  parts  would  approach  very  near  to  him 
in  structure  or  functions.  After  his  creation,  spon- 
taneous culture  and  outward  circumstances  may  have 
moulded  him  into  varieties,  and  given  him  many 
different  kinds  of  speech  and  of  habits..  These 
points  are  so  obvious  to  common  sense  that  it  would 
be  quite  unnecessary  to  insist  on  them,  were  they 
not  habitually  overlooked  or  misstated  by  evolu- 
tionists. 

The  creation  hypothesis  is  also  free  from  some  of 
the  difficulties  of  evolution.  It  avoids  the  absurdity 
of  an  eternal  progression  from  the  less  to  the  more 
complex.  It  provides  in  will,  the  only  source  of 
power  actually  known  to  us  by  ordinary  experience,  an 
intelligible  origin  of  nature.  It  does  not  require  us  to 
contradict  experience  by  supposing  that  there  are  no 
differences  of  kind  or  essence  in  things.  It  does  not 
require  us  to  assume,  contrary  to  experience,  an  in- 
variable tendency  to  differentiate  and  improve.  It 
does  not  exact  the  bridging  over  of  all  gaps  which 
may  be  found  between  the  several  grades  of  beings 
which  exist  or  have  existed. 

Why,  then,  are  so  many  men  of  science  disposed  to 
ignore  altogether  this  view  of  the  matter  ?  Mainly,  I 
believe,  because,  from  the  training  of  many  of  them, 
they  are  absolutely  ignorant  of  the  subject,  and  from 
their  habits  of  thought  have  come  to  regard  physical 
force  and  the  laws  regulating  it  as  the  one  power  in 
nature,  and  to  relegate  all  spiritual  powers  or  forces, 


PRIMITIVE    MAN.  848 

or,  as  they  have  been  taught  to  regard  them,  ( '  super- 
natural "  things,  to  the  domain  of  the  (t  unknowable." 
Perhaps  some  portion  of  the  difficulty  may  be  got 
over  by  abandoning  altogether  the  word  (f  super- 
natural," which  has  been  much  misused,  and  by  hold- 
ing nature  to  represent  the  whole  cosmos,  and  to  in- 
clude both  the  physical  and  the  spiritual,  both  of  them 
in  the  fullest  sense  subject  to  law,  but  each  to  the  law 
of  its  own  special  nature.  I  have  read  somewhere  a 
story  of  some  ignorant  orientals  who  were  induced  to 
keep  a  steam-engine  supplied  with  water  by  the  fiction 
that  it  contained  a  terrible  djin,  or  demon,  who,  if 
allowed  to  become  thirsty,  would  break  out  and 
destroy  them  all.  Had  they  been  enabled  to  discard 
this  superstition,  and  to  understand  the  force  of  steam, 
we  can  readily  imagine  that  they  would  now  suppose 
they  knew  the  whole  truth,  and  might  believe  that  any 
one  who  taught  them  that  the  engine  was  a  product  of 
intelligent  design,  was  only  taking  them  back  to  the 
old  doctrine  of  the  thirsty  demon  of  the  boiler.  This 
is,  I  think,  at  present,  the  mental  condition  of  many 
scientists  with  reference  to  creation. 

Here  we  come  to  the  first  demand  which  the  doctrine 
of  creation  makes  on  us  by  way  of  premises.  In 
order  that  there  may  be  creation  there  must  be  a 
primary  Self-existent  Spirit,  whose  will  is  supreme. 
The  evolutionist  cannot  refuse  to  admit  this  on  as  good 
ground  as  that  on  which  we  hesitate  to  receive  the 
postulates  of  his  faith.  It  is  no  real  objection  to  say 
that  a  God  can  be  known  to  us  only  partially,  and, 


344      THE  STORY  OP  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

with  reference  to  His  real  essence,  not  at  all;  since, 
even  if  we  admit  this,  it  is  no  more  than  can  be  said 
of  matter  and  force. 

I  am  not  about  here  to  repeat  any  of  the  ordinary 
arguments  for  the  existence  of  a  spiritual  First  Cause, 
and  Creator  of  all  things,  but  it  may  be  proper  to 
show  that  this  assumption  is  not  inconsistent  with 
experience,  or  with  the  facts  and  principles  of  modern 
science.  The  statement  which  I  would  make  on  this 
point  shall  be  in  the  words  of  a  very  old  writer,  not  so 
well  known  as  he  should  be  to  many  who  talk  volubly 
enough  about  antagonisms  between  science  and  Chris- 
tianity :  "  That  which  is  known  of  God  is  manifest  in 
them  (in  men),  for  God  manifested  it  unto  them.  For 
since  the  creation  of  the  world  His  invisible  things, 
even  His  eternal  power  and  divinity  are  plainly  seen, 
being  perceived  by  means  of  things  that  are  made/'  * 
The  statement  here  is  very  precise.  Certain  things 
relating  to  God  are  manifest  within  men's  minds,  and 
are  proved  by  the  evidence  of  His  works ;  these  pro- 
perties of  God  thus  manifested  being  specially  His 
power  or  control  of  all  forces,  and  His  divinity  or 
possession  of  a  nature  higher  than  ours.  TLe  argu- 
ment of  the  writer  is  that  all  heathens  know  this ; 
and,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  I  believe  it  must  be  admitted 
even  by  those  most  sceptical  on  such  points,  that  some 
notion  of  a  divinity  has  been  derived  from  nature  by 
men  of  all  nations  and  tribes,  if  we  except,  perhaps,  a 
few  enlightened  positivists  of  this  nineteenth  century 
*  Paul's  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  chap  i. 


PEIMITIVE   MAN.  845 

whom  excess  of  light  has  made  blind.  "  If  the  light 
that  is  in  man  be  darkness,  how  great  is  that  dark- 
ness." But  then  this  notion  of  a  God  is  a  very  old 
and  primitive  one,  and  Spencer  takes  care  to  inform 
us  that  "first  thoughts  are  either  wholly  out  of 
harmony  with  things,  or  in  very  incomplete  harmony 
with  them,"  and  consequently  that  old  beliefs  and 
generally  diffused  notions  are  presumably  wrong. 

Is  it  true,  however,  that  the  modern  knowledge  of 
nature  tends  to  rob  it  of  a  spiritual  First  Cause  ?  One 
can  conceive  such  a  tendency,  if  all  our  advances  in 
knowledge  had  tended  more  and  more  to  identify  force 
with  matter  in  its  grosser  forms,  and  to  remove  more 
and  more  from  our  mental  view  those  powers  which 
are  not  material ;  but  the  very  reverse  of  this  is  the 
case.  Modern  discovery  has  tended  more  and  more 
to  attach  importance  to  certain  universally  diffused 
media  which  do  not  seem  to  be  subject  to  the  laws  of 
ordinary  matter,  and  to  prove  at  once  the  Protean 
character  and  indestructibility  of  forces,  the  aggregate 
of  which,  as  acting  in  the  universe,  gives  us  our 
nearest  approach  to  the  conception  of  physical  omni- 
potence. This  is  what  so  many  of  our  evolutionists 
mean  when  they  indignantly  disclaim  materialism. 
They  know  that  there  is  a  boundless  energy  beyond 
mere  matter,  and  of  which  matter  seems  the  sport  and 
toy.  Could  they  conceive  of  this  energy  as  the  ex- 
pression of  a  personal  will,  they  would  become  theists. 

Man  himself  presents  a  microcosm  of  matter  and 

force,  raised  to  a  higher  plane  than  that  of  the  merely 

16 


346      THE  STOEY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

chemical  and  physical.  In  him  we  find  not  merely 
that  brain  and  nerve  force  which  is  common  to  him 
and  lower  animals,  and  which  exhibits  one  of  the  most 
marvellous  energies  in  nature,  but  we  have  the  higher 
force  of  will  and  intellect,  enabling  him  to  read  the 
secrets  of  nature,  to  seize  and  combine  and  utilize  its 
laws  like  a  god,  and  like  a  god  to  attain  to  the  higher 
discernment  of  good  and  evil.  Nay,  more,  this  power 
which  resides  within  man  rules  with  omnipotent 
energy  the  material  organism,  driving  its  nerve  forces 
until  cells  and  fibres  are  worn  out  and  destroyed, 
taxing  muscles  and  tendons  till  they  break,  impelling 
its  slave  the  body  even  to  that  which  will  bring  injury 
and  death  itself.  Surely,  what  we  thus  see  in  man 
must  be  the  image  and  likeness  of  the  Great  Spirit. 
We  can  escape  from  this  conclusion  only  by  one  or 
other  of  two  assumptions,  either  of  which  is  rather  to 
be  called  a  play  upon  words  than  a  scientific  theory. 
We  may,  with  a  certain  class  of  physicists  and  physio- 
logists, confine  our  attention  wholly  to  the  fire  and  the 
steam,  and  overlook  the  engineer.  We  may  assume 
that  with  protoplasm  and  animal  electricity,  for 
example,  we  can  dispense  with  life,  and  not  only  with 
life  but  with  spirit  also.  Yet  he  who  regards  vitality 
as  an  unmeaning  word",  and  yet  speaks  of  "living 
protoplasm,"  and  "  dead  protoplasm,"  and  affirms  that 
between  these  two  states,  so  different  in  their  pheno- 
mena, no  chemical  or  physical  difference  exists,  is 
surely  either  laughing  at  us,  or  committing  himself  to 
what  the  Duke  of  Argyll  calls  a  philosophical  bull;  and 


PRIMITIVE   MAN. 

he  who  shows  us  that  electrical  discharges  are  con- 
cerned in  muscular  contraction,  has  just  as  much 
proved  that  there  is  no  need  of  life  or  spirit,  as  the 
electrician  who  has  explained  the  mysteries  of  the 
telegraph  has  shown  that  there  can  be  no  need  of  an 
operator.  Or  we  may,  turning  to  the  opposite  extreme, 
trust  to  the  metaphysical  fallacy  of  those  who  affirm 
that  neither  matter,  nor  force,  nor  spirit,  need  concern 
them,  for  that  all  are  merely  states  of  consciousness  in 
ourselves.  But  what  of  the  conscious  self — this  self 
which  thinks,  and  which  is  in  relation  with  surround- 
ings which  it  did  not  create,  and  which  presumably 
did  not  create  it  ?  and  what  is  the  unknown  third  term 
which  must  have  been  the  means  of  setting  up  these 
relations  ?  Here  again  our  blind  guides  involve  us  in 
an  absolute  self-contradiction. 

Thus  we  are  thrown  back  on  the  grand  old  truth 
that  man,  heathen  and  savage,  or  Christian  and  scien- 
tific, opens  his  eyes  on  nature  and  reads  therein 
both  the  physical  and  the  spiritual,  and  in  connection 
with  both  of  these  the  power  and  divinity  of  an 
Almighty  Creator.  He  may  at  first  have  many  wrong 
views  both  of  God  and  of  His  works,  but  as  he  pene- 
trates further  into  the  laws  of  matter  and  mind,  he 
attains  more  just  conceptions  of  their  relations  to  the 
Great  Centre  and  Source  of  all,  and  instead  of  being 
able  to  dispense  with  creation,  he  hopes  to  be  able  at 
length  to  understand  its  laws  and  methods.  If  un- 
happily he  abandons  this  high  ambition,  and  con- 
tents himself  with  mere  matter  and  physical  force,  he 


348       THE  STOEY  OF  THE  EAETH  AND  MAN. 

cannot  rise  to  the  highest  development  either  of 
science  or  philosophy. 

It  may,  however,  be  said  that  evolution  may  admit 
all  this,  and  still  be  held  as  a  scientific  doctrine  in  con- 
nection with  a  modified  belief  in  creation.  The  work 
of  actual  creation  may  have  been  limited  to  a  few 
elementary  types,  and  evolution  may  have  done  the 
rest.  Evolutionists  may  still  be  theists.  We  have 
already  seen  that  the  doctrine,  as  carried  out  to  its 
logical  consequences,  excludes  creation  and  theism. 
It  may,  however,  be  shown  that  even  in  its  more 
modified  forms,  and  when  held  by  men  who  maintain 
that  they  are  not  atheists,  it  is  practically  atheistic, 
because  excluding  the  idea  of  plan  and  design,  and 
resolving  all  things  into  the  action  of  unintelligent 
forces.  It  is  necessary  to  observe  this,  because  it  is 
the  half-way  evolutionism  which  professes  to  have  a 
Creator  somewhere  behind  it,  that  is  most  popular; 
though  it  is,  if  possible,  more  unphilosophical  than 
that  which  professes  to  set  out  from  absolute  and 
eternal  nonentity,  or  from  self-existent  star-dust  con- 
taining all  the  possibilities  of  the  universe. 

Absolute  atheists  recognise  in  Darwinism,  for 
example,  a  philosophy  which  reduces  all  things  to  a 
"  gradual  summation  of  innumerable  minute  and  acci- 
dental material  operations,"  and  in  this  they  are  more 
logical  than  those  who  seek  to  reconcile  evolution  with 
design.  Huxley,  in  his  "lay  sermons/'  referring  to 
Paley's  argument  for  design  founded  on  the  structure 
of  a  watch,  says  that  if  the  watch  could  be  conceived 


PEIMITIVE    MAN.  349 

to  be  a  product  of  a  less  perfect  structure  improved 
by  natural  selection,  it  would  then  appear  to  be  the 
"  result  of  a  method  of  trial  and  error  worked  by  un- 
intelligent agents,  as  likely  as  of  the  direct  application 
of  the  means  appropriate  to  that  end,  by  an  intelligent 
agent."  This  is  a  bold  and  true  assertion  of  the 
actual  relation  of  even  this  modified  evolution  to 
rational  and  practical  theism,  which  requires  not 
merely  this  God  "  afar  off,"  who  has  set  the  stone  of 
nature  rolling  and  then  turned  His  back  upon  it,  but  a 
present  God,  whose  will  is  the  law  of  nature^  now  as  in 
times  past.  The  evolutionist  is  really  in  a  position  of 
absolute  antagonism  to  the  idea  of  creation,  even  when 
held  with  all  due  allowance  for  the  variations  of  created 
things  within  certain  limits. 

Perhaps  Paley's  old  illustration  of  the  watch,  as 
applied  by  Huxley,  may  serve  to  show  this  as  well 
as  any  other.  If  the  imperfect  watch,  useless  as  a 
time-keeper,  is  the  work  of  the  contriver,  and  the 
perfection  of  it  is  the  result  of  unintelligent  agents 
working  fortuitously,  then  it  is  clear  that  creation  and 
design  have  a  small  and  evanescent  share  in  the 
construction  of  the  fabric  of  nature.  But  is  it  really 
so  ?  Can  we  attribute  the  perfection  of  the  watch 
to  "  accidental  material  operations  "  any  more  than  the 
first  effort  to  produce  such  an  instrument  ?  Paley 
himself  long  ago  met  this  view  of  the  case,  but  his 
argument  may  be  extended  by  the  admissions  and 
pleas  of  the  evolutionists  themselves.  For  example, 
fche  watch  is  altogether  a  mechanicajf  thing,  and  this 


350       THE  STOEY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

fact  by  no  means  implies  that  it  could  not  be  made  by 
an  intelligent  and  spiritual  designer,  yet  this  assump- 
tion that  physical  laws  exclude  creation  and  design 
turns  up  in  almost  every  page  of  the  evolutionists. 
Paley  has  well  shown  that  if  the  watch  contained 
within  itself  machinery  for  making  other  watches,  this 
would  not  militate  against  his  argument.  It  would  be 
so  if  it  could  be  proved  that  a  piece  of  metal  had 
spontaneously  produced  an  imperfect  watch,  and  this 
a  more  perfect  one,  and  so  on;  but  this  is  precisely 
what  evolutionists  still  require  to  prove  with  respect 
both  to  the  watch  and  to  man.  On  the  other  hand 
it  is  no  argument  for  the  evolution  of  the  watch 
that  there  may  be  different  kinds  of  watches,  some 
more  and  others  less  perfect,  and  that  ruder  forms  may 
have  preceded  the  more  perfect.  This  is  perfectly 
compatible  with  creation  and  design.  Evolutionists, 
however,  generally  fail  to  make  this  distinction.  Nor 
would  it  be  any  proof  of  the  evolution  of  the  watch 
to  find  that,  as  Spencer  would  say,  it  was  in  perfect 
harmony  with  its  environment,  as,  for  instance,  that  it 
kept  time  with  the  revolution  of  the  earth,  and 
contained  contrivances  to  regulate  its  motion  under 
different  temperatures,  unless  it  could  be  shown  that 
the  earth's  motion  and  the  changes  of  temperature  had 
been  efficient  causes  of  the  motion  and  the  adjustments 
of  the  watch ;  otherwise  the  argument  would  look 
altogether  in  the  direction  of  design.  Nor  would  it  be 
fair  to  shut  up  the  argument  of  design  to  the  idea  that 
the  watch  must  have  suddenly  flashed  into  existence 


PRIMITIVE    MAN.  351 

fully  formed  and  in  motion.  It  would  be  quite  as 
much  a  creation  if  slowly  and  laboriously  made  by 
the  hand  of  the  artificer,  or  if  more  rapidly  struck 
off  by  machinery ;  and  if  the  latter,  it  would  not  follow 
that  the  machine  which  produced  the  watch  was  at  all 
like  the  watch  itself.  It  might  have  been  something 
very  different.  Finally,  when  Spencer  tries  to  cut  at 
the  root  of  the  whole  of  this  argument,  by  affirming 
that  man  has  no  more  right  to  reason  from  himself 
with  regard  to  his  Maker  than  a  watch  would  have 

o 

to  reason  from  its  own  mechanical  structure  and  affirm 
the  like  of  its  maker,  he  signally  fails.  If  the  watch 
had  such  power  of  reasoning,  it  would  be  more  than 
mechanical,  and  would  be  intelligent  like  its  maker; 
and  in  any  case,  if  thus  reasoning  it  came  to  the 
conclusion  that  it  was  a  result  of  "  accidental  material 
operations,"  it  would  be  altogether  mistaken.  Nor 
would  it  be  nearer  the  truth  if  it  held  that  it  was 
a  product  of  spontaneous  evolution  from  an  imperfect 
and  comparatively  useless  watch  that  had  been  made 
millions  of  years  before. 

We  have  taken  this  illustration  of  the  watch  merely 
as  given  to  us  by  Huxley,  and  without  in  the  least 
seeking  to  overlook  the  distinction  between  a  dead 
machine  and  a  living  organism;  but  the  argument 
for  creation  and  design  is  quite  as  strong  in  the  case  of 
the  latter,  so  long  as  it  cannot  be  proved  by  actual 
facts  to  be  a  product  of  derivation  from  a  distinct 
species.  This  has  not  been  proved  either  in  the  ca;^e  of 
man  or  any  other  species;  and  so  long  as  it  has  not, 


352       THE  STOET  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

the  theory  of  creation  and  design  is  infinitely  more 
rational  and  scientific  than  that  of  evolution  in  any 
of  its  forms. 

But  all  this  does  not  relieve  us  from  the  question, 
How  can  species  be  created? — the  same  question 
put  to  Paul  by  the  sceptics  of  the  first  century  with 
reference  to  the  resurrection — (C  How  are  the  dead 
raised,  and  with  what  bodies  do  they  come?"  I 
do  not  wish  to  evade  this  question,  whether  applied 
to  man  or  to  a  microscopic  animalcule,  and  I  would 
answer  it  with  the  following  statements  : — 

1.  The   advocate   of   creation   is   in   this    matter  in 
no  worse  position  than  the  evolutionist.     This  we  have 
already    shown,    and   I    may   refer   here   to   the  fact 
that  Darwin   himself  assumes   at  least   one   primitive 
form  of  animal  and   plant  life,  and  he  is  confessedly 
just  as  little  able  to  imagine  this  one  act  of  creation 
as  any  other  that  may  be  demanded  of  him. 

2.  We  are   not   bound   to   believe   that   all   groups 
of    individual    animals,    which    naturalists    may   call 
species,  have  been  separate  products  of  creation.     Man 
himself  has   by  some    naturalists   been   divided    into 
several  species ;  but  we  may  well  be  content  to  believe 
the  creation  of  one  primitive  form,  and  the  production 
of  existing  races  by  variation.     Every  zoologist  and 
botanist   who   has    studied  any   group   of   animals  or 
plants   with    care,    knows   that   there    are    numerous 
related  forms   passing   into  each   other,  which   some 
naturalists  might  consider  to  be  distinct  species,  but 
which  it  is  certainly  not  necessary  to  regard  as  distinct 


PRIMITIVE    MAN.  853 

products  of  creation.  Every  species  is  more  or  less 
rariable,  and  this  variability  may  be  developed  by 
different  causes.  Individuals  exposed  to  unfavourable 
conditions  will  be  stunted  and  depauperated;  those 
in  more  favourable  circumstances  may  be  improved 
and  enlarged.  Important  changes  may  thus  take 
place  without  transgressing  the  limits  of  the  species, 
or  preventing  a  return  to  its  typical  forms ;  and  the 
practice  of  confounding  these  more  limited  changes 
with  the  wider  structural  and  physiological  differences 
which  separate  true  species  is  much  to  be  deprecated. 
Animals  which  pass  through  metamorphoses,  or  which, 
are  developed  through  the  instrumentality  of  inter- 
mediate forms  or  "  nurses/'  *  are  not  only  liable  to 
be  separated  by  mistake  into  distinct  species,  but  they 
may,  tinder  certain  circumstances,  attain  to  a  premature 
maturity,  or  may  be  fixed  for  a  time  or  permanently 
in  an  immature  condition.  Further,  species,  like  in- 
dividuals, probably  have  their  infancy,  maturity, 
and  decay  in  geological  time,  and  may  present 
differences  in  these  several  stagos.  It  is  the  remainder 
of  true  .  specific  types  left  after  all  these  sources  of 
error  are  removed,  that  creation  has  to  account  for; 
and  to  arrive  at  this  remainder,  and  to  ascertain  its 
nature  and  amount,  will  require  a  vast  expenditure 
of  skilful  and  conscientious  labour. 

3.  Since  animals  and  plants  have  been  introduced 
upon  our  earth  in  long  succession  throughout  geologic 

*  Mr.  Mungo  Ponton,  in  his  book  "  The   Beginning,"   has 
based  a  theory  of  derivation  on  this  peculiarity. 


354       THE  STORY  OP  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

time,  and  this  in  a  somewhat  regular  manner,  we 
have  a  right  to  assume  that  their  introduction  has 
been  in  accordance  with  a  law  or  plan  of  creation, 
and  that  this  may  have  included  the  co-operation  of 
many  efficient  causes,  and  may  have  differed  in  its 
application  to  different  cases.  This  is  a  very  old 
doctrine  of  theology,  for  it  appears  in  the  early 
chapters  of  Genesis.  There  the  first  aquatic  animals, 
and  man,  are  said  to  have  been  (t  created ;"  plants 
are  said  to  have  been  "brought  forth  by  the  land;" 
the  mammalia  are  said  to  have  been  "  made/'  In 
the  more  detailed  account  of  the  introduction  of 
man  in  the  second  chapter  of  the  same  book,  he 
is  said  to  have  been  "  formed  of  the  dust  of  the 
ground;"  and  in  regard  to  his  higher  spiritual  life, 
to  have  had  this  "  breathed  into  "  him  by  God.  These 
are  very  simple  expressions,  but  they  are  very  precise 
and  definite  in  the  original,  and  they  imply  a  diversity 
in  the  creative  work.  Further,  this  is  in  accordance 
with  the  analogy  of  modern  science.  How  diverse 
are  the  modes  of  production  and  development  of 
animals  and  plants,  though  all  under  one  general  law; 
and  is  it  not  likely  that  the  modes  of  their  first 
introduction  on  the  earth  were  equally  diverse  ? 

4.  Our  knowledge  of  the  conditions  of  the  origina- 
tion of  species,  is  so  imperfect  that  we  may  possibly 
appear  for  some  time  to  recede  from,  rather  than 
to  approach  to,  a  solution  of  the  question.  In  the 
infancy  of  chemistry,  it  was  thought  that  chemical 
elements  could  be  transmuted  into  each  other.  The 


PRIMITIVE    MAN.  355 

progress  of  knowledge  removed  this  explanation  of 
their  origin,  and  has  as  yet  failed  to  substitute  any 
other  in  its  place.  It  may  be  the  same  with  organic 
species.  The  attempt  to  account  for  them  by  derivation 
may  prove  fallacious,  yet  it  may  be  some  time  before 
we  turn  the  corner,  should  this  be  possible,  and  enter 
the  path  which  actually  leads  up  to  their  origin. 

Lastly,  in  these  circumstances  our  wisest  course 
is  to  take  individual  species,  and  to  inquire  as  to 
their  history  in  time,  and  the  probable  conditions  of 
their  introduction.  Such  investigations  are  now  being 
made  by  many  quiet  workers,  whose  labours  are 
comparatively  little  known,  and  many  of  whom 
are  scarcely  aware  of  the  importance  of  what  they  are 
doing  toward  a  knowledge  of,  at  least,  the  conditions 
of  creation,  which  is  perhaps  all  that  we  can  at  present 
hope  to  reach. 

In  the  next  chapter  we  shall  try  to  sum  up  what 
is  known  as  to  man  himself,  in  the  conditions  of 
his  first  appearance  on  our  earth,  as  made  known 
to  us  by  scientific  investigation,  and  explained  on 
the  theory  of  creation  as  opposed  to  evolution 


CHAPTER  XV. 

PRIMITIVE  MAN.       CONSIDERED  WITH  REFERENCE  TO  MODERN 

THEORIES  AS  TO  HIS  ORIGIN — (continued). 

IN  the  previous  chapter  we  have  seen  that,  on  general 
grounds,  evolution  as  applied  to  man  is  untenable ; 
and  that  the  theory  of  creation  is  more  rational  and 
less  liable  to  objection.  We  may  now  consider  how 
the  geological  and  zoological  conditions  of  man's 
advent  on  the  earth  accord  with  evolution;  and  I 
think  we  shall  find,  as  might  be  expected,  that  they 
oppose  great  if  not  fatal  difficulties  to  this  hypothesis. 

One  of  the  first  and  most  important  facts  with 
reference  to  the  appearance  of  man,  is  that  he  is 
a  very  recent  animal,  dating  no  farther  back  in 
geological  time  than  the  Post-glacial  period,  at  the 
close  of  the  Tertiary  and  beginning  of  the  Modern 
era  of  geology.  Further,  inasmuch  as  the  oldest 
known  remains  of  man  occur  along  with  those  of 
animals  which  still  exist,  and  the  majority  of  which  are 
probably  not  of  older  date,  there  is  but  slender  proba- 
bility that  any  much  older  human  remains  will  ever 
be  found.  Now  this  has  a  bearing  on  the  question 
of  the  derivation  of  man,  which,  though  it  has  not 
altogether  escaped  the  attention  of  the  evolutionists, 
has  not  met  with  sufficient  consideration. 


PRIMITIVE    MAN.  357 

Perhaps  the  oldest;  known  human  skull  is  that  -which 
Las  been  termed  the  "  Engis "  skull,  from  the  cave 
of  Engis,  in  Belgium.  With  reference  to  this  skull, 
Professor  Huxley  has  candidly  admitted  that  it  may 
have  belonged  to  an  individual  of  one  of  the  existing 
faces  of  men.  I  have  a  cast  of  it  on  the  same  shelf 
with  the  skulls  of  some  Algonquin  Indians,  from 
the  aboriginal  Hochelaga,  which  preceded  Montreal; 
and  any  one  acquainted  with  cranial  characters  would 
readily  admit  that  the  ancient  Belgian  may  very 
well  have  been  an  American  Indian ;  while  on  the 
other  hand  his  head  is  not  very  dissimilar  from  that 
of  some  modern  European  races.  This  Belgian  man 
is  believed  to  have  lived  before  the  mammoth  and 
the  cave-bear  had  passed  away,  yet  he  does  not  belong 
to  an  extinct  species  or  even  variety  of  man. 

Further,  as  stated  in  a  previous  chapter,  Pictet 
catalogues  ninety-eight  species  of  mammals  which 
inhabited  Europe  in  the  Post-glacial  period.  Of  these 
fifty-seven  still  exist  unchanged,  and  the  remainder 
have  disappeared.  Not  one  can  be  shown  to  have 
been  modified  into  a  new  form,  though  some  of 
them  have  been  obliged,  by  changes  of  temperature 
and  other  conditions,  to  remove  into  distant  and 
now  widely  separated  regions.  Further,  it  would 
seem  that  all  the  existing  European  mammals  ex- 
tended back  in  geological  time  at  least  as  far 
as  man,  so  that  since  the  Post-glacial  period  no  new 
species  have  been  introduced  in  any  way.  Here 
we  have  a  series  of  facts  of  the  most  profound  sigiiifi- 


358       THE  STOEY  OP  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

cance.  Fifty- seven  parallel  lines  of  descent  nave  in 
Europe  run  on  along  with  man,  from  the  Post-glacial 
period,  without  change  or  material  modification  of  any 
kind.  Some  of  them  extend  without  change  even 
farther  back.  Thus  man  and  his  companion-mammals 
present  a  series  of  lines,  not  converging  as  if  they 
pointed  to  some  common  progenitor,  but  strictly 
parallel  to  each  other.  In  other  words,  if  they  are 
derived  forms,  their  point  of  derivation  from  a  common 
type  is  pushed  back  infinitely  in  geological  time.  The 
absolute  duration  of  the  human  species  does  not  affect 
this  argument.  If  man  has  existed  only  six  or  seven 
thousand  years,  still  at  the  beginning  of  his  existence 
he  was  as  distinct  from  lower  animals  as  he  is  now, 
and  shows  no  signs  of  gradation  into  other  forms. 
If  he  has  really  endured  since  the  great  Glacial  period, 
and  is  to  be  regarded  as  a  species  of  a  hundred  thou- 
sand years'  continuance,  still  the  fact  is  the  same,  and 
is,  if  possible,  less  favourable  to  derivation. 

Similar  facts  meet  us  in  other  directions.  I  have 
for  many  years  occupied  a  little  of  my  leisure  in 
collecting  the  numerous  species  of  molluscs  and  other 
marine  animals  existing  in  a  sub -fossil  state  in  the 
Post-pliocene  clays  of  Canada,  and  comparing  them 
with  their  modern  successors.  I  do  not  know  how 
long  these  animals  have  lived.  Some  of  them  certainly 
go  far  back  into  the  Tertiary;  and  recent  computations 
would  place  even  the  Glacial  age  at  a  distance  from  us 
of  more  than  a  thousand  centuries.  Yet  after  carefully 
studying  about  two  hundred  species,  and,  of  some 


fKIMITIVE    MAN.  859 

of  these,  many  hundreds  of  specimens,  I  have  arrived 
at  the  conclusion  that  they  are  absolutely  unchanged. 
Some  of  them,  it  is  true,  are  variable  shells,  presenting1 
as  many  and  great  varieties  as  the  human  race  itself; 
yet  I  find  that  in  the  Post-pliocene  even  the  varieties 
of  each  species  were  the  same  as  now,,  though  the 
great  changes  of  temperature  and  elevation  which  have 
occurred,  have  removed  many  of  them  to  distant  places, 
and  have  made  them  become  locally  extinct  in  regions 
over  which  they  once  spread.  Here  again  we  have  an 
absolute  refusal,  on  the  part  of  all  these  animals,  to 
admit  that  they  are  derived,  or  have  tended  to  sport 
into  new  species.  This  is  also,  it  is  to  be  observed, 
altogether  independent  of  that  imperfection  of  the 
geological  record  of  which  so  much  is  made ;  since  we 
have  abundance  of  these  shells  in  the  Post-pliocene 
beds,  and  in  the  modern  seas,  and  no  one  doubts 
their  continued  descent.  To  what  does  this  point  ? 
Evidently  to  the  conclusion  that  all  these  species  show 
no  indication  of  derivation,  or  tendency  to  improve, 
but  move  back  in  parallel  lines  to  some  unknown 
creative  origin. 

If  it  be  objected  to  this  conclusion  that  absence 
of  derivation  in  the  Post-pliocene  and  Modern  does 
not  prove  that  it  may  not  previously  have  occurred, 
the  answer  is,  that  if  the  evolutionist  admits  that 
for  a  very  long  period  (and  this  the  only  one  of  which 
wo  have  any  certain  knowledge,  and  the  only  one 
which  concerns  man)  derivation  has  been  suspended, 
he  in  effect  abandons  his  position.  It  may,  however. 


300       THE  STOEY  OP  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

be  objected  that  what  I  have  above  affirmed  of  species 
may  be  affirmed  of  varieties,  which  are  admitted  to 
be  derived.  For  example,  it  may  be  said  that  the 
negro  variety  of  man  has  existed  unchanged  from 
the  earliest  historic  times.  It  is  carious  that  those 
who  so  often  urge  this  argument  as  an  evidence  of  the 
great  antiquity  of  man,  and  the  slow  development 
of  races,  do  not  see  that  it  proves  too  much.  If 
the  negro  has  been  the  same  identical  negro  as  far 
back  as  we  can  trace  him,  then  his  origin  must 
have  been  independent,  and  of  the  nature  of  a  creation, 
or  else  his  duration  as  a  negro  must  have  been  in- 
definite. What  it  does  prove  is  a  fact  equally  obvious 
from  the  study  of  Post-pliocene  molluscs  and  other 
fossils,  namely,  that  new  species  tend  rapidly  to  vary  to 
the  utmost  extent  of  their  possible  limits,  and  then 
to  remain  stationary  for  an  indefinite  time.  Whether 
this  results  from  an  innate  yet  limited  power  of  expan- 
sion in  the  species,  or  from  the  relations  between 
it  and  external  influences,  it  is  a  fact  inconsistent 
with  the  gradual  evolution  of  new  species.  Hence 
we  conclude  that  the  recent  origin  of  man,  as  revealed 
by  geology,  is,  in  connection  with  the  above  facts,  an 
absolute  bar  to  the  doctrine  of  derivation. 

A  second  datum  furnished  to  this  discussion  by 
geology  and  zoology  is  the  negative  one  that  no 
link  of  connection  is  known  between  man  and  any 
preceding  animal.  If  we  gather  his  bones  and  his 
implements  from  the  ancient  gravel-beds  and  cave- 
earths,  we  do  not  find  them  associated  with  any 


PEIMITIVE   MAN.  361 

creature  near  of  kin,  nor  do  we  find  any  such  creature 
in  those  rich  Tertiary  beds  which  have  yielded  so 
great  harvests  of  mammalian  bones.  In  the  modern 
world  we  find  nothing  nearer  to  him  than  such  anthro- 
poid apes  as  the  orangs  and  gorillas.  But  the  apes, 
however  nearly  allied,  cannot  be  the  ancestors  of  man. 
If  at  all  related  to  him  by  descent,  they  are  his 
brethren  or  cousins,  not  his  parents ;  for  they  must,  on 
the  evolutionist  hypothesis,  be  themselves  the  terminal 
ends  of  distinct  lines  of  derivation  from  previous 
forms. 

This  difficulty  is  not  removed  by  an  appeal  to  the 
imperfection  of  the  geological  record.  So  many 
animals  contemporary  with  man  are  known,  both  at 
the  beginning  of  his  geological  history  and  in  the 
present  world,  that  it  would  be  more  than  marvellous 
if  no  very  near  relative  had  ere  this  time  been  dis- 
covered at  one  extreme  or  the  other,  or  at  some 
portion  of  the  intervening  ages.  Further,  all  the 
animals  contemporary  with  man  in  the  Post-glacial 
period,  so  far  as  is  known,  are  in  the  same  case. 
Discoveries  of  this  kind  may,  however,  still  be  made, 
and  we  may  give  the  evolutionist  the  benefit  of  the 
possibility.  We  may  affirm,  however,  that  in  order 
to  gain  a  substratum  of  fact  for  his  doctrine,  he  must 
find  somewhere  in  the  later  Tertiary  period  animals 
much  nearer  to  man  than  are  the  present  anthropoid 
apes. 

This  demand  I  make  advisedly — first,  because  the 
animals  in  question  must  precede  man  in  geological 


362       THE  STORY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

fcime;  and  secondly,  because  the  apes,  even  if  they 
preceded  man,  instead  of  being  contemporary  with 
him,  are  not  near  enough  to  fulfil  the  required  con- 
ditions. What  is  the  actual  fact  with  regard  to  these 
animals,  so  confidently  affirmed  to  resemble  some 
not  very  remote  ancestors  of  ours  ?  Zoologically  they 
are  not  varieties  of  the  same  species  with  man — they  are 
not  species  of  the  same  genus,  nor  do  they  belong 
to  genera  of  the  same  family,  or  even  to  families  of  the 
same  order.  These  animals  are  at  least  ordinally 
distinct  from  us  in  those  grades  of  groups  in  which 
naturalists  arrange  animals.  I  am  well  aware  that 
an  attempt  has  been  made  to  group  man,  apes,  and 
lemurs  in  one  order  of  "  Primates,",  and  thus  to  reduce 
their  difference  to  the  grade  of  the  family;  but  as 
pat  by  its  latest  and  perhaps  most  able  advocate, 
the  attempt  is  a  decided  failure.  One  has  only  to  read 
the  concluding  chapter  of  Huxley's  new  book  on  the 
anatomy  of  the  vertebrates  to  be  persuaded  of  this, 
more  especially  if  we  can  take  into  consideration,  in 
addition  to  the  many  differences  indicated,  others 
which  exist  but  are  not  mentioned  by  the  author. 
Ordinal  distinctions  among  animals  are  mainly  de- 
pendent on  grade  or  rank,  and  are  not  to  be  broken 
down  by  obscure  resemblances  of  internal  anatomy, 
having  no  relation  to  this  point,  but  to  physiological 
features  of  very  secondary  importance.  Man  must,  on 
all  grounds,  rank  much  higher  above  the  apes  than 
they  can  do  above  any  other  order  of  mammals. 
Even  if  we  refuse  to  recognise  all  higher  grounds 


PRIMITIVE    MAN.  863 

of  classification,  and  condescend,  with  some  great 
zoologists  of  our  time,  to  regard  nature  with  the  eyes 
of  mere  anatomists,  or  in  the  same  way  that  a  brick- 
layer's apprentice  may  be  supposed  to  regard  distinc- 
tions of  architectural  styles,  we  can  arrive  at  no  other 
conclusion.  Let  us  imagine  an  anatomist,  himself 
neither  a  man  nor  a  monkey,  but  a  being  of  some 
other  grade,  and  altogether  ignorant  of  the  higher 
ends  and  powers  of  our  species,  to  contemplate  merely 
the  skeleton  of  a  man  and  that  of  an  ape.  He 
must  necessarily  deduce  therefrom  an  ordinal  distinc- 
tion, even  on  the  one  ground  of  the  correlations  and 
modifications  of  structure  implied  in  the  erect  position. 
It  would  indeed  be  sufficient  for  this  purpose  to 
consider  merely  the  balancing  of  the  skull  on  the  neck, 
or  the  structure  of  the  foot,  and  the  consequences 
fairly  deducible  from  either  of  them.  Nay,  were  such 
imaginary  anatomist  a  derivationist,  and  ignorant  of 
the  geological  date  of  his  specimens,  and^as  careless 
of  the  differences  in  respect  to  brain  as^some  ofHEIs 
human  conjru?vs,  he  might,  referring  to  the  loss 
specialised  condition  of  man's  teeth  and  foot,  conclude, 
not  that  man  is  an  improved  ape,  but  that  the  ape 
isT  a  specialised  and  improved  man.  He  would  be 
obliged,  however,  even  on  this  hypothesis,  to  admit  that 
there  must  be  a  host  of  missing  links.  Nor  would 
these  be  supplied  by  the  study  of  the  living  races  of 
men,  because  these  want  even  specific  distinctness, 
and  differ  from  the  apes  essentially  in  those  points  on 
which  an  ordinal  distinction  can  be  fairly  based. 


364      THE  STOBY  OF  THE  EAETH  AND  MAN. 

This  isolated  position  of  man  throughout  the  whole 
period  of  his  history,  grows  in  importance  the  more 
that  it  is  studied,  und  can  scarcely  be  the  result  of 
any  accident  of  defective  preservation  of  intermediate 
forms.  In  the  meantime,  when  taken  in  connection 
with,  the  fact  previously  stated,  that  man  is  equally 
isolated  when  he  first  appears  on  the  stage,  it  deprives 
evolution,  as  applied  to  our  species,  of  any  precise 
scientific  basis,  whether  zoological  or  geological. 

I  do  not  attach  any  importance  whatever,  in  this 
connection,  to  the  likeness  in  type  or  plan  between 
man  and  other  mammals.  Evolutionists  are  in  the 
habit  of  taking  for  granted  that  this  implies  derivation, 
and  of  reasoning  as  if  the  fact  that  the  human  skeleton 
is  constructed  on  the  same  principles  as  that  of  an 
ape  or  a  dog,  must  have  some  connection  with  a 
common  ancestry  of  these  animals.  This  is,  however, 
as  is  usual  with  them,  begging  the  question.  Creation, 
as  well  as  evolution,  admits  of  similarity  of  j)Tan. 
When  Steplienson  constructed  a  locomotive,,  he  availed 
himself  of  the  principles  and  of  many  of  the  con- 
trivances of  previous  engines ;  but  this  does  not  imply 
that  he  took  a  mine-engine,  or  a  marine -engine,  and 
cony-rted  it  into  a  railroad-engine.  Type  or  plan, 
whether  in  nature  or  art,  may  imply  merely  a  mental 
evolution  of  ideas  in  the  maker,  not  a  derivation  of 
one  object  from  another. 

But  while  man  is  related  in  his  type  of  structure  to 
the  higher  animals,  his  contemporaries,  it  is  unde- 
niable that  there  are  certain  points  in  which  he  con- 


PEIMITIVB   MAN.  ot)5 

stitutes  a  new  type;  and  if  this  consideration  were 
properly  weighed,  I  believe  it  would  induce  zoolo- 
gists, notwithstanding  the  proverbial  humility  of  the 
true  man  of  science,  to  consider  themselves  much 
more  widely  separated  from  the  brutes  than  even  by 
the  ordinal  distinction  above  referred  to.  I  would 
state  this  view  of  the  matter  thus : — It  is  in  the 
lower  animals  a  law  that  the  bodily  frame  is  provided 
with  all  necessary  means  of  defence  and  attack,  and 
with  all  necessary  protection  against  external  influ- 
ences and  assailants.  In  a  very  few  cases,  we  have 
partial  exceptions  to  this.  A  hermit-crab,  for  in- 
stance, has  the  hinder  part  of  its  body  unprotected; 
and  has,  instead  of  armour,  the  instinct  of  using  the 
cast-off  shells  of  molluscs;  yet  even  this  animal  has 
the  usual  strong  claws  of  a  crustacean,  for  defence1 
in  front.  There  are  only  a  very  few  animals  in  which 
instinct  thus  takes  the  place  of  physical  contrivances 
for  defence  or  attack,  and  in  these  we  find  merely 
the  usual  unvarying  instincts  of  the  irrational  animal. 
But  in  man,  that  which  is  the  rare  exception  in  all 
other  animals,  becomes  the  rule.  He  has  no  means 
of  escape  from  danger,  compared  with  those  enjoyed 
by  other  animals — no  defensive  armour,  no  natural 
protection  from  cold  or  heat,  no  effective  weapons 
for  attacking  other  animals.  These  disabilities  would 
make  him  the  most  helpless  of  creatures,  especially 
when  taken  in  connection  with  his  slow  growth  and 
long  immaturity.  His  safety  and  his  domiijon  ovei 
other  animals,  are  secured  by  entirely  new  means. 


366  THE    STOEY   OF   THE    EARTH   AND   MAI?. 

constituting  a  "new  departure"  in  creation.  Contri- 
vance and  inventive  power,  enabling  him  to  utilise 
the  objects  and  forces  of  nature,  replace  in  him  the 
material  powers  bestowed  on  lower  animals.  Obvi- 
ously the  structure  of  the  human  being  is  related  to 
this,  and  so  related  to  it  as  to  place  man  in  a  different 
category  altogether  from  any  other  animal. 

This  consideration  makes  the  derivation  of  man 
from  brutes  difficult  to  imagine.  None  of  these 
latter  appear  even  able  to  conceive  or  understand 
the  modes  of  life  and  action  of  man.  They  do  not 
need  to  attempt  to  emulate  his  powers,  for  they  are 
themselves  provided  for  in  a  different  manner.  They 
have  no  progressive  nature  like  that  of  man.  Their 
relations  to  things  without  are  altogether  limited  to 
their  structures  and  instincts.  Man's  relations  are 
limited  only  by  his  powers  of  knowing  and  under- 
standing. How  then  is  it  possible  to  conceive  of  an 
animal  which  is,  so  to  speak,  a  mere  living  machine, 
parting  with  the  physical  contrivances  necessary  to 
its  existence,  and  assuming  the  new  role  of  intelligence 
and  free  action  ? 

This  becomes  still  more  striking  if  we  adopt  the 
view  usually  taken  by  evolutionists,  that  primitive 
man  was  a  ferocious  and  carnivorous  creature,  warring 
with  and  overcoming  the  powerful  animals  of  the  Post- 
glacial period,  and  contending  with  the  rigours  of  a 
severe  climate.  This  could  certainly  not  be  inferred 
from  his  structure,  interpreted  by  that  of  the  lower 
animals,  which  would  inevitably  lead  to  the  conclusion 


PRIMITIVE    MAN.  367 

that  he  must  Lave  been  a  harmless  and  frugivorous 
creature,  fitted  to  subsist  only  in  the  mildest  climates, 
and  where  exempt  from  the  attacks  of  the  more 
powerful  carnivorous  animals.  No  one  reasoning  on 
the  purely  physical  constitution  of  man,  could  infer 
that  he  might  be  a  creature  more  powerful  and 
ferocious  than  the  lion  or  the  tiger. 

It  is  also  worthy  of  mention  that  the  existence  of 
primitive  man  as  a  savage  hunter  is,  in  another  point 
of  view,  absolutely  opposed  to  the  Darwinian  idea  of 
his  origin  from  a  frugivorous  ape.  These  creatures, 
while  comparatively  inoffensive,  conform  to  the  general 
law  of  lower  animals  in  having  strong  jaws  and  power- 
ful canines  for  defence,  hand -like  feet  to  aid  them  in 
securing  food,  and  escapiLg  from  "their  enemies,  and 
hairy  clothing  to  protect  them  from  cold  and  heat. 
On  the  hypothesis  of  evolution  we  might  conceive 
that  if  these  creatures  were  placed  in  some  Eden  of 
genial  warmth,  peace,  and  plenty,  which  rendered 
those  appliances  unnecessary,  they  might  gradually 
lose  these  now  valuable  structures,  from  want  of 
necessity, to  use  them.  But,  on  the  contrary,  if  such 
creatures  were  obliged  to  contend  against  powerful 
enemies,  and  to  feed  on  flesh,  all  analogy  would  lead 
us  to  believe  that  they  would  become  in  their  struc- 
tures more  like  carnivorous  beasts  than  men.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  anthropoid  apes,  in  the  circum- 
stances in  which  we  find  them,  are  not  only  as  un- 
progressive  as  other  animals,  but  little  fitted  to  extend 
their  range,  and  less  gifted  with  the  power  of  adapt- 


368      THE  STOEY  OP  THE  EAETH  AND  MAN. 

ing  themselves  to  new  conditions  than  many  other 
mammals  less  resembling  man  in  external  form. 

On  the  Darwinian  theory,  such  primitive  men  as 
geology  reveals  to  us  would  be  more  likely  to  have 
originated  from  bears  than  apes,  and  we  would  be 
tempted  to  wish  that  man  should  become  extinct,  and 
that  the  chance  should  be  given  to  the  mild  chim- 
panzee or  orang  to  produce  by  natural  selection  an 
improved  and  less  ferocious  humanity  for  the  future. 

The  only  rational  hypothesis  of  human  origin  in  the 
present  state  of  our  knowledge  of  this  subject  is,  that 
man  must  have  been  produced  under  some  circum- 
stances in  which  animal  food  was  not  necessary  to 
him,  in  which  he  was  exempt  from  the  attacks  of 
the  more  formidable  animals,  and  in  less  need  of  pro- 
tection from  the  inclemency  of  the  weather  than  is 
the  case  with  any  modern  apes ;  and  that  his  life  as  a 
hunter  and  warrior  began  after  he  had  by  his  know- 
ledge and  skill  secured  to  himself  the  means  of  sub- 
duing nature  by  force  and  cunning.  This  implies 
that  man  was  from  the  first  a  rational  being,  capable 
of  understanding  nature,  and  it  accords  much  more 
nearly  with  the  old  story  of  Eden  in  the  book  of 
Genesis,  than  with  any  modern  theories  of  evolution. 

It  is  due  to  Mr.  Wallace — who,  next  to  Darwin, 
has  been  a  leader  among  English  derivationists — tc 
state  that  he  perceives  this  difficulty.  As  a  believer 
in  natural  selection,  however,  it  presents  itself  to  hLs 
mind  in  a  peculiar  form.  He  perceives  that  so  soon 
as,  by  the  process  of  evolution,  man  became  a  rational 


PRIMITIVE    MAN.  369 

creature,  and  acquired  his  social  sympathies,  physical 
evolution  must  cease,  and  must  be  replaced  by  inven- 
tion, contrivance,  and  social  organisation.  This  is  at 
once  obvious  and  undeniable,  and  it  follows  that  the 
natural  selection  applicable  to  man,  as  man,  must 
relate  purely  to  his  mental  and  moral  improvement. 
Wallace,  however,  fails  to  comprehend  the  full  sig- 
nificance of  this  feature  of  the  case.  Given,  a  man 
destitute  of  clothing,  he  may  never  acquire  such 
clothing  by  natural  selection,  because  he  will  provide 
an  artificial  substitute.  He  will  evolve  not  into  a 
hairy  animal,  but  into  a  weaver  and  a  tailor.  Given, 
a  man  destitute  of  claws  and  fangs,  he  will  not  ac- 
quire these,  but  will  manufacture  weapons.  But  then, 
on  the  hypothesis  of  derivation,  this  is  not  what  is 
given  us  as  the  raw  material  of  man,  but  instead  of 
this  a  hairy  ape.  Admitting  the  power  of  natural 
selection,  we  might  understand  how  this  ape  could 
become  more  hairy,  or  acquire  more  formidable 
weapons,  as  it  became  more  exposed  to  cold,  or  more 
under  the  necessity  of  using  animal  food;  but  that 
it  should  of  itself  leave  this  natural  line  of  develop- 
ment and  enter  on  the  entirely  different  line  of  mental 
progress  is  not  conceivable,  except  as  a  result  of  creative 
intervention. 

Absolute  materialists  may  make  light  of  this  diffi- 
culty, and  may  hold  that  this  would  imply  merely  a 
change  of  brain;  but  even  if  we  admit  this,  they 
fail  to  show  of  what  use  such  better  brain  would 
be  to  a  creature  retaining  the  bodily  form  and  in- 
— — -  - — — < "TT"  "  ' 


370       THE  STORY  OP  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

stincts  of  the  ape,  or  how  such  better  brain  could 
be  acquired.  .Bui;  "evolutionists  are  not  necessarily 
absolute  materialists,  and  Darwin  himself  labours  to 
show  that  the  reasoning  self-conscious  mind,  and  even 
the  moral  sentiments  of  man,  might  be  evolved  from 
rudiments  of  such  powers,  perceptible  in  the  lower 
animals.  Here,  however,  he  leaves  the  court  of 
natural  science,  properly  so  called,  and  summons  us  to 
appear  before  the  judgment-seat  of  philosophy;  and  as 
naturalists  are  often  bad  mental  philosophers,  and  phi- 
losophers have  often  small  knowledge  of  nature,  some 
advantage  results,  in  the  first  instance,  to  the  doubtful 
cause  of  evolution.  Since,  however,  mental  science 
makes  much  more  of  the  distinctions  between  the 
mind  of  man  and  the  instinct  of  animals  than  natu- 
ralists, accustomed  to  deal  merely  with  the  external 
organism,  can  be  expected  to  do,  the  derivationist, 
when  his  plea  is  fairly  understood,  is  quite  as  certain 
to  lose  his  cause  as  when  tried  by  geology  and 
zoology.  He  might  indeed  be  left  to  be  dealt 
with  by  mental  science  on  its  own  ground;  and  as 
our  province  is  to  look  at  the  matter  from  the  stand- 
point of  natural  history,  we  might  here  close  our 
inquiry.  It  may,  however,  be  proper  to  give  some 
slight  notion  of  the  width  of  the  gulf  to  be  passed 
when  we  suppose  the  mechanical,  unconscious,  repeti- 
tive nature  of  the  animal  to  pass  over  into  the  con- 
dition of  an  intellectual  and  moral  being. 

If  we  take,  as    the    most   favourable-  case   for   the 
evolutionist,  the  most  sagacious  of  the  lower  animals 


PEIMITIVE    MAN.  371 

• — the   dog,  for   example — and   compare   it   with   the 
least  elevated  condition  of  the  human  mind,  as  ob- 
served in  the  child  or  the  savage,  we  shall  find  that 
even  here  there  is  something  more   than   that  "  im- 
mense  difference  in  degree/'  which   Darwin   himself 
admits.     Making  every  allowance  for  similarities  in 
external  sense,  in  certain  instinctive  powers  and  appe- 
tites ;  and  even  in  the  power  of  comparison,  and  in 
certain  passions  and  affections ;  and  admitting,  though 
we  cannot  be  quite  certain  of  this,  that  in  these  man 
differs   from   animals    only   in   degree;    there    remain 
other  and  more  important  differences,  amounting  to 
the   possession,    on   the   parfc  of  man,  of  powers   not 
existing  at  all   in  animals.      Of  this   kind  are — first, 
the   faculty  of  reaching   abstract   and   general   truth, 
ind  consequently  of  reasoning,  in  the  proper   sense 
of  the  term;    secondly,  in   connection  with    this,  the 
power   of    indefinite   increase   in  knowledge,   and   in 
deductions    therefrom    leading    to   practical    results ; 
thirdly,  the  power  of  expressing  thought  in  speech ; 
fourthly,  the  power  of  arriving  at  ideas  of  right  and 
wrong,   and    thus   becoming   a   responsible   and   free 
agent.     Lastly,  we  have  the  conception  of  higher  spi- 
ritual intelligence,  of  supreme  power  and  divinity,  and 
the  consequent  feeling  of  religious  obligation.     These 
powers  are  evidently  different  in  kind,  rather  than  in 
degree,  from  those  of  the  brute,  and  cannot  be  con- 
ceived to  have  arisen  from  the  latter,  more  especially 
as  one  of  the  distinctive  characters  of  these   is  their 
purely  cyclical,  repetitive,  and  unprogressive  nature. 


872       THE  STORY  OF  THE  EAETH  AND  MAN. 

Sir  John  Lubbock  lias,  by  a  great  accumulation  of 
facts,  or  supposed  facts,  bearing  on  the  low  mental 
condition  of  savages,  endeavoured  to  bridge  over  this 
chasm.  It  is  obvious,  however,  from  his  own  data, 
that  the  rudest  savages  are  enabled  to  subsist  only 
by  the  exercise  of  intellectual  gifts  far  higher  than 
those  of  animals;  and  that  if  these  gifts  were 
removed  from  them,  they  would  inevitably  perish. 
It  is  equally  clear  that  even  the  lowest  savages  are 
moral  agents;  and  that  not  merely  in  their  religious 
beliefs  and  conceptions  of  good  and  evil,  but  also 
in  their  moral  degradation,  they  show  capacities  not 
possessed  by  the  brutes.  It  is  also  true  that  most 
of  these  savages  are  quite  as  little  likely  to  be  speci- 
mens of  primitive  man  as  are  the  higher  races ;  and 
that  many  of  them  have  fallen  to  so  low  a  level  as 
to  be  scarcely  capable,  of  themselves,  of  rising  to  a 
condition  of  culture  and  civilisation.  Thus  they  are 
more  likely  to  be  degraded  races,  in  "  the  eddy  and 
backwater  of  humanity/'  than  examples  of  the 
sources  from  whence  it  flowed.  And  here  it  must 
not  be  lost  sight  of,  that  a  being  like  man  has 
capacities  for  degradation  commensurate  with  his 
capacities  for  improvement ;  and  that  at  any  point  of 
his  history  we  may  have  to  seek  the  analogues  of 
primeval  man,  rather  in  the  average,  than  the  extremes 
of  the  race. 

Before  leaving  this  subject,  it  may  be  well  to  con- 
sider the  fact,  that  the  occurrence  of  such  a  being  as 
man  in  he  last  stages  of  the  world's  history  is,  in 


PRIMITIVE   MAN.  373 

itself,  an  argument  for  the  existence  of  a  Supreme 
Creator.  Man  is  himself  an  image  and  likeness  of 
God ;  and  the  fact  that  he  can  establish  relations  with 
nature  around  him,  so  as  to  understand  and  control 
its  powers,  implies  either  that  he  has  been  evolved  as 
a  soul  of  nature,  by  its  own  blind  development,  or 
that  he  has  originated  in  the  action  of  a  higher  being 
related  to  man.  The  former  supposition  has  been 
above  shown  to  be  altogether  improbable ;  so  that  we 
are  necessarily  thrown  back  upon  the  latter.  We 
must  thus  regard  man  himself  as  the  highest  known 
work  of  a  spiritual  creator,  and  must  infer  that  he 
rightly  uses  his  reason  when  he  infers  from  nature 
the  power  and  divinity  of  God. 

The  last  point  that  I  think  necessary  to  bring  for- 
ward here,  is  the  information  which  geology  gives  as 
to  the  locality  of  the  introduction  of  man.  There  can. 
be  no  hesitation  in  affirming  that  to  the  temperate 
regions  of  the  old  continent  belongs  the  honour  of 
being  the  cradle  of  humanity.  In  these  regions  aro 
the  oldest  historical  monuments  of  our  race;  here 
geology  finds  the  most  ancient  remains  of  human 
beings;  here  also  seems  to  be  the  birthplace  of  the 
fauna  and  flora  most  useful  and  congenial  to  man; 
and  here  he  attains  to  his  highest  pitch  of  mental 
and  physical  development.  This,  it  is  true,  by  no 
means  accords  with  the  methods  of  the  derivationists. 
On  their  theory  we  should  search  for  the  origin  of 
man  rather  in  those  regions  where  he  is  most  de- 
pauperated and  degraded,  and  where  his  struggles 


374       THE  STOEY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

for  existence  are  most  severe.  But  it  is  surely 
absurd  to  affirm  of  any  species  of  animal  or  plant 
that  it  must  have  originated  at  the  limits  of  its 
range,  where  it  can  scarcely  exist  at  all.  On  the 
contrary,  common  sense  as  well  as  science  requires 
us  to  believe  thai  species  must  have  originated  in 
those  central  parts  of  their  distribution  where  they 
enjoy  the  most  favourable  circumstances,  and  must 
have  extended  themselves  thence  as  far  as  external 
conditions  would  permit.  One  of  the  most  wretched 
varieties  of  the  human  race,  and  as  near  as  any  to 
the  brutes,  is  that  which  inhabits  Tierra  del  Fuego, 
a  country  which  scarcely  affords  any  of  the  means 
for  the  comfortable  sustenance  of  man.  Would  it 
not  be  absolutely  impossible  that  man  should  have 
originated  in  such  a  country?  Is  it  not  certain,  en 
the  contrary,  that  the  Fuegian  is  merely  a  degraded 
variety  of  the  aboriginal  American  race  ?  Precisely 
the  same  argument  applies  to  the  Austral  negro  and 
the  Hottentot.  They  are  all  naturally  the  most 
aberrant  varieties  of  man,  as  being  at  the  extreme 
range  of  his  possible  extension,  and  placed  in  con- 
ditions unfavourable,  either  because  of  unsuitable 
cliinatal  or  organic  associations.  It  is  true  that  the 
regions  most  favourable  to  the  anthropoid  apes,  and 
in  which  they  may  be  presumed  to  have  originated, 
are  by  no  means  the  most  favourable  to  man;  but 
this  only  makes  it  the  less  likely  that  man  could 
have  been  derived  from  such  a  parentage. 

While,  therefore,  the  geological  date  of  the  appear- 


PRIMITIVE   MAN.  375 

ance  of  man,  the  want  of  any  link  of  connection  be- 
tween him  and  any  preceding  animal,  and  his  dis- 
similar bodily  and  mental  constitution  fro.m  any  crea- 
tures contemporary  with  him,  render  his  derivation 
from  apes  or  other  inferior  animals  in  the  highest 
degree  improbable,  the  locality  of  his  probable  origin 
confirms  this  conclusion  in  the  strongest  manner.  It 
also  shows  that  man  and  the  higher  apes  are  not 
likely  to  have  originated  in  the  same  regions,  or 
under  the  same  conditions,  and  that  the  conditions 
of  human  origin  are  rather  the  coincidence  of  suitable 
climatal  and  organic  surroundings  than  the  occurrence 
of  animals  closely  related  in  structure  to  man. 

Changes  of  conditions  in  geological  time  will  not 
meet  this  difficulty.  They  might  lead  to  migrations, 
as  they  have  done  in  the  case  of  both  plants  and 
animals,  but  not  to  anything  further.  The  hyena, 
whose  bones  are  found  in  the  English  caves,  has 
been  driven  by  geological  changes  to  South  Africa, 
but  he  is  still  the  same  hyena.  The  reindeer  which 
once  roamed  in  France  is  still  the  reindeer  in  Lap- 
land ;  and  though  under  different  geological  con- 
ditions we  might  imagine  the  creature  to  have  origi- 
nated in  the  south  of  Europe,  a  country  not  now 
suitable  to  it,  this  would  neither  give  reason  to 
believe  that  any  animal  now  living  in  the  south  of 
Europe  was  its  progenitor,  nor  to  doubt  that  it  still 
remains  unchanged  in  its  new  habitat.  Indeed,  the 
absence  of  anything  more  than  merely  varietal 
change  in  man  and  his  companion-animals,  in  con- 


876      THE  STORY  OP  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

sequence  of  the  geological  changes  and  migrations 
of  the  Modern  period,  furnishes,  as  already  stated, 
a  strong  if  not  conclusive  argument  against  deriva- 
tion ;  which  here,  as  elsewhere,  only  increases  our 
actual  difficulties,  while  professing  to  extricate  us 
from  them. 

The  arguments  in  the  preceding  pages  cover  only 
a  small  portion  of  the  extensive  field  opened  up  by 
this  subject.  They  relate,  however,  to  some  of  the 
prominent  and  important  points,  and  I  trust  are 
sufficient  to  show  that,  as  applied  to  man,  the  theory 
of  derivation  merely  trifles  with  the  great  question 
of  his  origin,  without  approaching  to  its  solution. 
I  may  now,  in  conclusion,  sketch  the  leading  fea- 
tures of  primitive  man,  as  he  appears  to  us  through 
the  mist  of  the  intervening  ages,  and  compare  the 
picture  with  that  presented  by  the  oldest  historical 
records  of  our  race. 

Two  pictures  of  primeval  man  are  in  our  time 
before  the  world.  One  represents  him  as  the  pure 
and  happy  inhabitant  of  an  Eden,  free  from  all  the 
ills  that  have  afflicted  his  descendants,  and  revelling 
in  the  bliss  of  a  golden  age.  This  is  the  representa- 
tion of  Holy  Scripture,  and  it  is  also  the  dream  of 
all  the  poetry  and  myth  of  the  earlier  ages  of  the 
world.  It  is  a  beautiful  picture,  whether  we  regard 
it  as  founded  on  historical  fact,  or  derived  from  God 
Himself,  or  from  the  yearnings  of  the  higher  spiritual 
nature  of  man.  The  other  picture  is  a  joint  product 


PRIMITIVE    MAN.  377 

of  modern  philosophy  and  of  antiquarian  research. 
It  presents  to  us  a  coarse  and  filthy  savage,  repulsive 
in  feature,  gross  in  habits,  warring  with  his  fellow  - 
savages,  and  warring  yet  more  remorselessly  with 
every  living  thing  he  could  destroy,  tearing  half- 
cooked  flesh,  and  cracking  marrow-bones  with  stone 
hammers,  sheltering  himself  in  damp  and  smoky 
caves,  with  no  eye  heavenward,  and  with  only  the 
first  rude  beginnings  of  the  most  important  arts  of 
life. 

Both  pictures  may  contain  elements  of  truth,  for 
man  is  a  many-sided  monster,  made  up  of  things 
apparently  incongruous,  and  presenting  here  and 
there  features  out  of  which  either .  picture  may  be 
composed.  Evolutionists,  and  especially  those  who 
believe  in  the  struggle  for  existence  and  natural 
selection,  ignore  altogether  the  evidence  of  the  golden 
age  of  humanity,  and  refer  us  to  the  rudest  of  modern 
savages  as  the  types  of  primitive  man.  Those  who 
believe  in  a  Divine  origin  for  our  race,  perhaps  dwell 
too  much  on  the  higher  spiritual  features  of  the 
Edenic  state,  to  the  exclusion  of  its  more  practical 
aspects,  and  its  relations  to  the  condition  of  the  more 
barbarous  races.  Let  us  examine  more  closely  both 
representations ;  and  first,  that  of  creation. 

The  Glacial  period,  with  its  snows  and  ice,  had 
passed  away,  and  the  world  rejoiced  in  a  spring-time 
of  renewed  verdure  and  beauty.  Many  great  and 
formidable  beasts  of  the  Tertiary  time  had  disap- 
peared in  the  revolutions  which  had  occurred,  and 


378      THE  STORY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

the  existing  fauna  of  the  northern  hemisphere  had 
been  established  on  the  land.  Then  it  was  that  man 
was  introduced  by  an  act  of  creative  power.  In  the 
preceding  changes  a  region  of  Western  Asia  had 
been  prepared  for  his  residence.  It  was  a  table-land 
at  the  head  waters  of  the  rivers  that  flow  into  the 
Euxine,  the  Caspian,  and  the  Persian  Gulf.  Its 
climate  was  healthy  and  bracing,  with  enough  of 
variety  to  secure  vigour,  and  not  so  inclement  as  to 
exact  any  artificial  provision  for  clothing  or  shelter. 
Its  flora  afforded  abundance  of  edible  fruits,  and  was 
rich  in  all  the  more  beautiful  forms  of  plant  life; 
while  its  clear  streams,  alluvial  soil,  and  undulating 
surface,  afforded  every  variety  of  station  and  all  that 
is  beautiful  in  scenery.  It  was  not  infested  with  the 
more  powerful  and  predacious  quadrupeds,  and  its 
geographical  relations  were  such  as  to  render  this 
exemption  permanent.  In  this  paradise  man  found 
ample  supplies  of  wholesome  and  nutritious  food. 
His  requirements  as  to  shelter  were  met  by  the 
leafy  bowers  he  could  weave.  The  streams  of  Eden 
afforded  gold  which  he  could  fashion  for  use  and 
ornament,  pearly  shells  for  vessels,  and  agate  for  his 
few  and  simple  cutting  instruments.  He  required 
no  clothing,  and  knew  of  no  use  for  it.  His  body 
was  the  perfection  and  archetype  of  the  vertebrate 
form,  full  of  grace,  vigour,  and  agility.  His  hands 
enabled  him  to  avail  himself  of  all  the  products  of 
nature  for  use  and  pleasure,  and  to  modify  and  adapt 
them  according  to  his  inclination.  His  intelligence, 


PRIMITIVE    MAN.  379 

along  with  his  manual  powers,  allowed  him  to  ascer- 
tain the  properties  of  things,  to  plan,  invent,  and 
apply  in  a  manner  impossible  to  any  other  creature. 
His  gift  of  speech  enabled  him  to  imitate  and  reduce 
to  systematic  language  the  sounds  of  nature,  and  to 
connect  them  with  the  thoughts  arising  in  his  own 
mind,  and  thus  to  express  their  relations  and  signifi- 
cance. Above  all,  his  Maker  had  breathed  into  him 
a  spiritual  nature  akin  to  His  own,  whereby  he 
became  different  from  all  other  animals,  and  the 
very  shadow  and  likeness  of  God;  capable  of  rising 
to  abstractions  and  general  conceptions  of  truth  and 
goodness,  and  of  holding  communion  with  his  Creator. 
This  was  man  Edenic,  the  man  of  the  golden  age,  as 
sketched  in  the  two  short  narratives  of  the  earlier 
part  of  Genesis,  which  not  only  conform  to  the  general 
traditions  of  our  race  on  the  subject,  but  bear  to  any 
naturalist  who  will  read  them  in  their  original  dress, 
internal  evidence  of  being  contemporary,  or  very 
nearly  so,  with  the  state  of  things  to  which  they 
relate. 

"  And  God  said,  '  Let  us  make  man  in  our  image,  after  our 
likeness  ;  and  let  them  rule  over  the  fish  of  the  sea,  and  over 
the  birds  of  the  air,  and  over  the  herbivora,  and  over  all  the 
land.'  And  God  blessed  them,  and  said  unto  them,  '  Be  fruit- 
ful and  multiply,  and  fill  the  earth  and  subdue  it.' 

"And  the  Lord  God  formed  the  man  of  the  dust  of  the 
ground,  and  breathed  into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of  life,  and 
man  became  a  living  being.  And  the  Lord  God  planted  a 
garden,  eastward  in  Eden,  and  there  He  placed  the  man  whom 
He  had  formed.  And  out  of  the  ground  made  the  Lord  God 
to  grow  every  tree  that  is  pleasant  to  the  sight  and  good  for 


880      THE  STOEY  OP  THE  EAETH  AND  MAN. 

food.  And  a  river  went  out  of  Eden  to  water  the  garden,  and 
parted  from  thence,  becoming  four  heads  (of  great  rivers). 
The  name  of  the  first  is  Pison,  compassing  the  whole  land  of 
Chavila,  where  there  is  gold,  and  the  gold  of  that  land  is 
good ;  there  is  (also)  pearl  and  agate.  .  .  .  And  the  Lord 
God  took  the  man,  and  put  him  into  the  garden  of  Eden,  to 
cultivate  it  and  to  take  care  of  it." 

Before  leaving  this  most  ancient  and  most  beautiful 
history,  we  may  say  that  it  implies  several  things  of 
much  importance  to  our  conceptions  of  primeval  man. 
It  implies  a  centre  of  creation  for  man,  and  a  group  of 
companion  animals  and  plants,  and  an  intention  to 
dispense  in  his  case  with  any  struggle  for  existence. 
It  implies,  also,  that  man  was  not  to  be  a  lazy  savage, 
but  a  care-taker  and  utiliser,  by  his  mind  and  his 
bodily  labour,  of  the  things  given  to  him ;  and  it  also 
implies  an  intelligent  submission  on  his  part  to  his 
Maker,  and  spiritual  appreciation  of  His  plans  and  in- 
tentions. It  further  implies  that  man  was,  in  process 
of  time,  from  Eden,  to  colonise  the  earth,  and  subdue 
its  wildness,  so  as  to  extend  the  conditions  of  Eden 
widely  over  its  surface.  Lastly,  a  part  of  the  record 
not  quoted  above,  but  necessary  to  the  consistency  of 
the  story,  implies  that,  in  virtue  of  his  spiritual  nature, 
and  on  certain  conditions,  man,  though  in  bodily  frame 
of  the  earth  earthy,  like  the  other  animals,  was  to  be 
exempted  from  the  common  law  of  mortality  which 
had  all  along  prevailed,  and  which  continued  to  prevail, 
even  among  the  animals  of  Eden.  Further,  if  man  fell 
from  this  condition  into  that  of  the  savage  of  the  age 
of  stone,  it  must  have  been  by  the  obscuration  of  hia 


PKIMITIVE    MAN.  381 

spiritual  nature  under  that  which  is  merely  animal ;  in 
other  words,  by  his  ceasing  to  be  spiritual  and  in  com- 
munion with  God,  and  becoming  practically  a  sensual 
materialist.  That  this  actually  happened  is  asserted  by 
the  Scriptural  story,  but  its  details  would  take  us  too 
far  from  our  present  subject.  Let  us  now  turn  to  tho 
other  picture — that  presented  by  the  theory  of  strug- 
gle for  existence  and  derivation  from  lower  animals. 

It  introduces  us  first  to  an  ape,  akin  perhaps  to  the 
modern  orang  or  gorilla,  but  unknown  to  us  as  yet  by 
any  actual  remains.  This  creature,  after  living  for  an 
indefinite  time  in  the  rich  forests  of  the  Miocene  and 
earlier  Pliocene  periods,  was  at  length  subjected  to  the 
gradually  increasing  rigours  of  the  Glacial  age.  Its 
vegetable  food  and  its  leafy  shelter  failed  it,  and  it 
learned  to  nestle  among  such  litter  as  it  could  collect 
in  dens  and  caves,  and  to  seize  and  devour  such  weaker 
animals  as  it  could  overtake  and  master.  At  the  same 
time,  its  lower  extremities,  no  longer  used  for  climbing 
trees,  but  for  walking  on  the  ground,  gained  in 
strength  and  size;  its  arms  diminished;  and  its 
development  to  maturity  being  delayed  by  the  in- 
tensity of  the  struggle  for  existence,  its  brain  en- 
larged, it  became  more  cunning  and  sagacious,  and 
even  learned  to  use  weapons  of  wood  or  stone  to 
destroy  its  victims.  So  it  gradually  grew  into  a  fierce 
and  terrible  creature,  "  neither  beast  nor  human/1 
combining  the  habits  of  a  bear  and  the  agility  of  a 
monkey  with  some  glimmerings  of  the  cunning  and 
resources  of  a  savage. 


382      THE  STORY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

When  the  Glacial  period  passed  away,  our  nameless 
simian  man,  or  manlike  ape,  might  naturally  be  sup- 
posed to  revert  to  its  original  condition,  and  to  estab- 
lish itself  as  of  old  in  the  new  forests  of  the  Modern 
period.  For  some  unknown  reason,  however,  perhaps 
because  it  had  gone  too  far  in  the  path  of  improve- 
ment to  be  able  to  turn  back,  this  reversion  did  not 
take  place.  On  the  contrary,  the  ameliorated  circum- 
stances and  wider  range  of  the  new  continents  enabled 
it  still  further  to  improve.  Ease  and  abundance  per- 
fected what  struggle  and  privation  had  begun  ;  it 
added  to  the  rude  arts  of  the  Glacial  time ;  it  parted 
with  the  shaggy  hair  now  unnecessary;  its  features 
became  softer;  and  it  returned  in  part  to  vegetable 
food.  Language  sprang  up  from  the  attempt  to  arti- 
culate natural  sounds.  Fire-making  was  invented  and 
new  arts  arose.  At  length  the  spiritual  nature,  poten- 
tially present  in  the  creature,  was  awakened  by  some 
access  of  fear,  or  some  grand  and  terrible  physical 
phenomenon;  the  idea  of  a  higher  intelligence  was 
struck  out,  and  the  descendant  of  apes  became  a 
superstitious  and  idolatrous  savage.  How  much 
trouble  and  discussion  would  have  been  saved,  had 
he  been  aware  of  his  humble  origin,  and  never  enter- 
tained the  vain  imagination  that  he  was  a  child  of 
God,  rather  than  a  mere  product  of  physical  evolution  ! 
It  is,  indeed,  curious,  that  at  this  point  evolutionism, 
like  theism,  has  its  "fall  of  man;"  for  surely  the 
awakening  of  the  religious  sense,  and  of  the  know- 
ledge of  good  and  evil,  must  on  that  theory  be  so 


PRIMITIVE   MA.N.  883 

designated,  since  it  subverted  in  the  case  of  man  the 
previous  regular  operation  of  natural  selection,  and 
introduced  all  that  debasing  superstition,  priestly 
domination,  and  religious  controversy  wlrch  have 
been  among  the  chief  curses  of  our  race,  and  which 
are  doubly  accursed  if,  as  the  evolutionist  believes, 
they  are  not  the  ruins  of  something  nobler  and  holier, 
but  the  mere  gratuitous,  vain,  and  useless  imaginings 
of  a  creature  who  should  have  been  content  to  eat  and 
drink  and  die,  without  hope  or  fear,  like  the  brutes 
from  which  he  sprang. 

These  are  at  present  our  alternative  sketches  :  the 
genesis  of  theism,  and  the  genesis  of  evolution.  After 
the  argument  in  previous  pages,  it  is  unnecessary 
here  to  discuss  their  relative  degrees  of  probability. 
If  we  believe  in  a  personal  spiritual  Creator,  the  first 
becomes  easy  and  natural,  as  it  is  also  that  which  best 
accords  with  history  and  tradition.  If,  on  the  con- 
trary, we  reject  all  these,  and  accept  as  natural  laws 
the  postulates  of  the  evolutionists  which  we  have 
already  discussed,  we  may  become  believers  in  the 
latter.  The  only  remaining  point  is  to  inquire  as  to 
which  explains  best  the  actual  facts  of  humanity  as  we 
find  them.  This  is  a  view  of  which  much  has  been 
made  by  evolutionists,  and  it  therefore  merits  consider- 
ation. But  it  is  too  extensive  to  be  fully  treated  of 
here,  and  I  must  content  myself  with  a  few  illustra- 
tions of  the  failure  of  the  theory  of  derivation  to 
explain  some  of  the  most  important  features  presented 
by  even  the  ruder  races  of  men. 


384       THE  STOEY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

One  of  these  is  the  belief  in  a  future  state  of  exist- 
ence beyond  this  life.  This  belongs  purely  to  the 
spiritual  nature  of  man.  It  is  not  taught  by  physical 
nature,  yet  its  existence  is  probably  universal,  and  it 
lies  near  the  foundation  of  all  religious  beliefs.  Lartet 

described  to  us  the  sepulchral  cave  of  Aurignac,N. 
which  human  skeletons,  believed  to  be  of  Post- 
glacial date,  were  associated  with  remains  of  funeral 
feasts,  and  with  indications  of  careful  burial,  and  with 
provisions  laid  up  for  the  use  of  the  dead.  Lyell  well 
remarks  on  this,  r\i  we  have  here  before  us,  at  the 
northern  base  of  the  Pyrenees,  a  sepulchral  vault  with 
skeletons  of  human  beings,  consigned  by  friends  and 
relatives  to  their  last  resting-place — if  we  have  also  at 
the  portal  of  the  tomb  the  relics  of  funeral  feasts,  and 
within  it  indications  of  viands  destined  for  the  use  of 
the  departed  on  their  way  to  a  land  of  spirits ;  while 
among  the  funeral  gifts  are  weapons  wherewith  in 
other  fields  to  chase  the  gigantic  deer,  the  cave-lion, 
the  cave-bear,  and  woolly  rhinoceros — we  have  at  last 
succeeded  in  tracing  back  the  sacred  rites  of  burial, 
and  more  interesting  still,  a  belief  in  a  future  state,  to 
times  long  anterior  to  those  of  history  and  tradition. 
Rude  and  superstitious  as  may  have  been  the  savage  of 
that  remote  era,  he  still  deserved,  by  cherishing  hopes 
of  a  hereafter,  the  epithet  of  (  noble/  which  Dryden 
gave  to  what  he  seems  to  have  pictured  to  himself  as 
the  primitive  condition  of  our  race."  * 

In  like  manner,  in  the  vast  American  continent,  all 
*  "  Antiquity  of  Man,"  p.  192 


PRIMITIVE    MAN.  385 

its  long  isolated  and  widely  separated  tribes,  many  of 
them  in  a  state  of  lowest  barbarism,  and  without  any 
external  ritual  of  religious  worship,  believed  in  happy 
hunting-grounds  in  the  spirit-land  beyond  the  grave, 
and  the  dead  warrior  was  buried  with  his  most  useful 
weapons  and  precious  ornaments. 

"  Bring  here  the  last  gifts ;  and  with  them 

The  last  lament  be  said. 
Let  all  that  pleased  and  yet  may  please, 
Be  buried  with  the  dead  " 

was  no  unmeaning  funeral  song,  but  involved  the 
sacrifice  of  the  most  precious  and  prized  objects,  that 
the  loved  one  might  enter  the  new  and  untried  state 
provided  for  its  needs.  Even  the  babe,  whose  life  is 
usually  accounted  of  so  small  value  by  savage  tribes, 
was  buried  by  the  careful  mother  with  precious 
strings  of  wampum,  that  had  cost  more  months  of 
patient  labour  than  the  days  of  its  short  life,  that  it 
might  purchase  the  fostering  care  of  the  inhabitants 
of  that  unknown  yet  surely  believed-in  region  of 
immortality.  This 

"  — wish  that  of  the  living  whole 

No  life  may  fail  beyond  the  grave, 
Derives  it  not  from  what  we  have 
The  likest  God  within  the  soul  P  " 

Is  it  likely  to  have  germinated  in  the  brain  of  an 
ape  ?  and  if  so,  of  what  possible  use  would  it  be  in 
the  struggle  of  a  merely  physical  existence  ?  Is  it 
not  rather  the  remnant  of  a  better  spiritual  life — a 
remembrance  of  the  tree  of  life  that  grew  in  the 


386      THE  STOEY  OF  THE  EAETH  AND  MAN. 

paradise  of  God,  a  link  of  connection  of  the  spiritual 
nature  in  man  with,  a  higher  Divine  Spirit  above  ? 
Life  and  immortality,  it  is  true,  were  brought  to  light 
by  Jesus  Christ,  but  they  existed  as  beliefs  more  or 
less  obscure  from  the  first,  and  formed  the  basis  for 
good  and  evil  of  the  religions  of  the  world.  Around 
this  idea  were  gathered  multitudes  of  collateral  be- 
liefs and  religious  observances ;  feasts  and  festivals 
for  the  dead;  worship  of  dead  heroes  and  ances- 
tors; priestly  intercessions  and  sacrifices  for  the 
dead;  costly  rites  of  sepulture.  Yain  and  without 
foundation  many  of  these  have  no  doubt  been,  but 
they  have  formed  a  universal  and  costly  testimony  to 
an  instinct  of  immortality,  dimly  glimmering  even  in 
the  breast  of  the  savage,  and  glowing  with  higher 
brightness  in  the  soul  of  the  Christian,  but  separated 
by  an  impassable  gulf  from  anything  derivable  from 
a  brute  ancestry. 

The  theistic  picture  of  primeval  man  is  in  har- 
mony with  the  fact  that  men,  as  a  whole,  are,  and 
always  have  been,  believers  in  God.  The  evolu- 
tionist picture  is  not.  If  man  had  from  the  first 
not  merely  a  physical  and  intellectual  nature,  but  a 
spiritual  nature  as  well,  we  can  understand  how  he 
came  into  relation  with  God,  and  how  through  all 
his  vagaries  and  corruptions  he  clings  to  this  relation 
in  one  form  or  another ;  but  evolution  affords  no  link 
of  connection  of  this  kind.  It  holds  God  to  be  un- 
knowable even  to  the  cultivated  intellect  of  philosophy, 
and  perceives  no  use  in  ideas  with  relation  to  Him 


PRIMITIVE   MAN.  387 

which,  according  to  it  must  necessarily  be  fallacious, 
It  leaves  the  theistic  notions  of  mankind  without 
explanation,  and  it  will  not  serve  its  purpose  to  assert 
that  some  few  and  exceptional  families  of  men  have 
no  notion  of  a  God.  Even  admitting  this,  and  it  is  at 
best  very  doubtful,  it  can  form  but  a  trifling  exception 
to  a  general  truth. 

It  appears  to  me  that  this  view  of  the  case  is  very 
clearly  put  in  the  Bible,  and  it  is  curiously  illustrated 
by  a  recent  critique  of  "Mr.  Darwin's  Critics," 
by  Professor  Huxley  in  the  Contemporary  Review. 
Mr.  Mivart,  himself  a  derivationist,  but  differing  in 
some  points  from  Darwin,  had  affirmed,  in  the  spirit 
rather  of  a  Romish  theologian  than  of  a  Biblical 
student  or  philosopher,  that  "  acts  unaccompanied  by 
mental  acts  of  conscious  will"  are  " absolutely  des- 
titute of  the  most  incipient  degree  of  goodness." 
Huxley  well  replies,  "  It  is  to  my  understanding 
extremely  hard  to  reconcile  Mr.  Mivart's  dictum  with 
that  noble  summary  of  the  whole  duty  of  man,  '  Thou 
shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and 
with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  strength;  and 
thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbour  as  thyself/  Accord- 
ing to  Mr.  Mivart's  definition,  the  man  who  loves 
God  and  his  neighbour,  and,  out  of  sheer  love  and 
affection  for  both,  does  all  he  can  to  please  them,  is 
nevertheless  destitute  of  a  particle  of  real  goodness." 
Huxley's  reply  deserves  to  be  pondered  by  certain 
moralists  and  theologians  whose  doctrine  savours  of 
the  leaven  of  the  Pharisees,  but  neither  Huxley  nor 


388      THE  STORY  OF  THE  EAETH  AND  MAN. 

his  opponent  see  the  higher  truth  that  in  the  love  of 
God  we  have  a  principle  far  nobler  and  more  God- 
like and  less  animal  than  that  of  mere  duty.  Man 
primeval,  according  to  the  doctrine  of  Genesis,  was, 
by  simple  love  and  communion  with  his  God,  placed 
in  the  position  of  a  spiritual  being,  a  member  of  a 
higher  family  than  that  of  the  animal.  The  ' '  know- 
ledge of  good  and  evil "  which  he  acquired  later,  and 
on  which  is  based  the  law  of  conscious  duty,  was  a  less 
happy  attainment,  which  placed  him  on  a  lower  level 
than  that  of  the  unconscious  love  and  goodness  of 
primal  innocence.  No  doubt  man's  sense  of  right 
and  wrong  is  something  above  the  attainment  of 
animals,  and  which  could  never  have  sprung  from 
them ;  but  still  more  is  this  the  case  with  his  direct 
spiritual  relation  to  God,  which,  whether  it  rises  to 
the  inspiration  of  the  prophet  or  the  piety  of  the 
Christian,  or  sinks  to  the  rude  superstition  of  the 
savage,  can  be  no  part  of  the  Adam  of  the  dust 
but  only  of  the  breath  of  life  breathed  into  him  from 
above. 

That  man  should  love  his  fellow-man  may  not  seem 
strange.  Certain  social  and  gregarious  and  family 
instincts  exist  among  the  lower  animals,  and  Darwin 
very  ably  adduces  these  as  akin  to  the  similar  affections 
of  man ;  yet  even  in  the  law  of  love  of  our  neighbour, 
as  enforced  by  Christ's  teaching,  it  is  easy  to  see  that 
we  have  something  beyond  animal  nature.  But  thia 
becomes  still  more  distinct  in  the  love  of  God.  Man 
was  the  "  shadow  and  likeness  of  God,"  says  the  old 


PRIMITIVE    MAN.  889 

record  in  Genesis — the  shadow  that  clings  to  the  sub- 
stance and  is  inseparable  from  it,  the  likeness  that 
represents  it  visibly  to  the  eyes  of  men,  and  of  the 
animals  that  man  rules  over.  Primeval  man  could 
tf  hear  in  the  evening  breeze  the  voice  of  God,  walking 
to  and  fro  in  the  garden/'  What  mere  animal  ever 
had  or  could  attain  to  such  an  experience  ? 

But  if  we  turn  from  the  Edenic  picture  of  man  in 
harmony  with  Heaven — "owning  a  father,  when  he 
owned  a  God  " — to  man  as  the  slave  of  superstition  ; 
even  in  this  terrible  darkness  of  mistaken  faith,  of 
which  it  may  be  said, 

"  Fear  mates  her  devils,  and  weak  faith  her  gods, 
Gods  partial,  changeful,  passionate,  unjust, 
Whose  attributes  are  rage,  revenge,  or  lust," 

we  see  the  ruins,  at  least,  of  that  sublime  love  of 
God.  The  animal  clings  to  its  young  with  a  natural 
affection,  as  great  as  that  of  a  human  mother  for  her 
child,  but  what  animal  ever  thought  of  throwing  its 
progeny  into  the  Ganges,  or  into  the  fires  of  Mo- 
loch's altar,  for  the  saving  of  its  soul,  or  to  obtain  the 
favour  or  avoid  the  wrath  of  God  ?  No  less  in  the 
vagaries  of  fetichism,  ritualism,  and  idolatry,  and  in 
the  horrors  of  asceticism  and  human  sacrifice,  than  in 
the  Edenic  communion  with  and  hearing  of  God,  or 
in  the  joy  of  Christian  love,  do  we  see,  in  however 
ruined  or  degraded  condition,  the  higher  spiritual 
nature  of  man. 

This  point  leads  to  another  distinction  which,  when 
properly  viewed,  widens  the  gap  between  man  and 


390  THE   STORY   OF    1'HE   EARTH   AND   MAN. 

the  animals,  or  at  least  destroys  one  of  ther  trtul 
bridges  of  the  evolutionists.  Lubbock  and  others 
affect  to  believe  that  the  lowest  savages  of  the  modern 
world  must  be  nearest  to  the  type  of  primeval  man. 
I  have  already  attempted  to  show  the  fallacy  of  this. 
I  may  add  here  that  in  so  holding  they  overlook  a 
fundamental  distinction,  well  pointed  out  by  the  Duke 
of  Argyll,  between  the  capacity  of  acquiring  know- 
ledge and  knowledge  actually  acquired,  and  between 
the  possession  of  a  higher  rational  nature  and  the 
exercise  of  that  nature  in  the  pursuit  of  mechanical 
arts.  In  other  words,  primeval  man  must  not  be  held 
to  have  been  "utterly  barbarous"  because  he  was 
ignorant  of  mining  or  navigation,  or  of  sculpture  and 
painting.  He  had  in  him  the  power  to  attain  to  these 
things,  but  so  long  as  he  was  not  under  necessity  to 
exercise  it,  his  mind  may  have  expended  its  powers  in 
other  and  happier  channels.  As  well  might  it  be 
affirmed  that  a  delicately  nurtured  lady  is  an  "  utter 
barbarian  "  because  she  cannot  build  her  own  house, 
or  make  her  own  shoes.  No  doubt  in  such  work  she 
would  be  far  more  helpless  than  the  wife  of  the  rudest 
savage,  yet  she  is  not  on  that  account  to  be  held  as  an 
inferior  being,  or  nearer  to  the  animals.  Our  con- 
ception of  an  angelic  nature  implies  the  absence  of 
all  our  social  institutions  and  mechanical  arts;  but 
does  this  necessitate  our  regarding  an  angel  as  an 
"  utter  barbarian "  ?  In  short,  the  whole  notion  of 
civilisation  held  by  Lubbock  and  those  who  think 
with  him,  is  not  only  low  and  degrading,  but  utterly 


PRIMITIVE   MAN.  391 

and  absurdly  wrong;  and  of  course  it  vitiates  all  their 
conceptions  of  primeval  man  as  well  as  of  man's 
future  destiny.  Further,  the  theistic  idea  implies  that 
man  was,  without  exhausting  toil,  to  regulate  and 
control  nature,  to  rule  over  the  animals,  to  cultivate 
the  earth,  to  extend  himself  over  it  and  subdue  it ;  and 
all  this  as  compatible  with  moral  innocence,  and  at 
the  same  time  with  high  intellectual  and  spiritual 
activity. 

There  is,  however,  a  still  nicer  and  more  beautiful 
distinction  involved  in  this,  and  included  in  the  won- 
derful narrative  in  Genesis,  so  simple  yet  so  much 
more  profound  than  our  philosophies ;  and  which 
crops  out  in  the  same  discussion  of  the  critics  of 
Darwin,  to  which  I  have  already  referred.  A  writer 
in  the  Quarterly  Review  had  attempted  to  dis- 
tinguish human  reason  from  the  intelligence  of 
animals,  as  involving  self-consciousness  and  reflec- 
tion in  our  sensations  and  perceptions.  Huxley 
objects  to  this,  instancing  the  mental  action  of  a 
greyhound  when  it  sees  and  pursues  a  hare,  as 
similar  to  that  of  the  gamekeeper  when  he  lets  slip 
the  hound.* 

"As  it  is  very  necessary  to  keep  up  a  clear  dis- 
tinction between  these  two  processes,  let  the  one  be 
called  neurosis  and  the  other  psychosis.  When  the 
gamekeeper  was  first  trained  to  his  work,  every  step 
in  the  process  of  neurosis  was  accompanied  by  a  cor- 
responding step  in  that  of  psychosis,  or  nearly  so. 
*  Contemporary  Review,  November,  1871,  p.  461. 


392  THE    STORY    OP    THfi    EARTH    A.ND    MAN. 

He  was  conscious  of  seeing  something,  conscious  o2 
making  sure  it  was  a  hare,  conscious  of  desiring  to 
catch  it,  and  therefore  to  loose  the  greyhound  at  the 
right  time,  conscious  of  the  acts  by  which  he  let  the 
dog  out  of  the  leash.  But  with  practice,  though  the 
various  steps  of  the  neurosis  remain — for  otherwise 
the  impression  on  the  retina  would  not  result  in  the 
loosing  of  the  dog — the  great  majority  of  the  steps 
of  the  psychosis  vanish,  and  the  loosing  of  the  dog 
follows  unconsciously,  or,  as  we  say,  without  think- 
ing about,  upon  the  sight  of  the  hare.  No  one  will 
deny  that  the  series  of  acts  which  originally  inter- 
vened between  the  sensation  and  the  letting  go  of 
the  dog  were,  in  the  strictest  sense,  intellectual  and 
rational  operations.  Do  they  cease  to  be  so  when 
the  man  ceases  to  be  conscious  of  them  ?  That 
depends  upon  what  is  the  essence  and  what  the 
accident  of  these  operations,  which  taken  together 
constitute  ratiocination.  Now,  ratiocination  is  re- 
solvable into  predication,  and  predication  consists 
in  marking,  in  some  way,  the  existence,  the  co- 
existence, the  succession,  the  likeness  and  unlike- 
ness,  of  things  or  their  ideas.  Whatever  does  this, 
reasons;  and  if  a  machine  produces  the  effects  of 
reason,  I  see  no  more  ground  for  denying  to  it  the 
reasoning  power  because  it  is  unconscious,  than  I  see 
for  refusing  to  Mr.  Babbage's  engine  the  title  of  a 
calculating  machine  on  the  same  grounds." 

Here  we  have  in  the  first  place,  the  fact  that  an 
action,  in  the  first  instance  rational  and  complex,  be- 


PRIMITIVE    MAN.  393 

comes  by  repetition  simple  and  instinctive.  Does 
the  man  then  sink  to  the  level  of  the  hound,  or,  what 
is  more  to  the  purpose,  does  this  in  the  least  approach 
to  showing  that  the  hound  can  rise  to  the  level  of  the 
man  ?  Certainly  not ;  for  the  man  is  the  conscious 
planner  and  originator  of  a  course  of  action  in  which 
the  instincts  of  the  brute  are  made  to  take  part,  and 
in  which  the  readiness  that  he  attains  by  habit  only 
enables  him  to  dispense  with  certain  processes  of 
thought  which  were  absolutely  necessary  at  first. 
The  man  and  the  beast  co-operate,  but  they  meet 
each  other  from  entirely  different  planes ;  the  former 
from  that  of  the  rational  consideration  of  nature,  the 
latter  from  that  of  the  blind  pursuit  of  a  mere  physical 
instinct.  The  one,  to  use  Mr.  Huxley's  simile,  is  the 
conscious  inventor  of  the  calculating  machine,  the 
other  is  the  mac'hine  itself,  and,  though  the  machine 
can  calculate,  this  fact  is  the  farthest  possible  from 
giving  it  the  power  of  growing  into  or  producing  its 
own  inventor.  But  Moses,  or  the  more  ancient  autho- 
rity from  whom  he  quotes  in  Genesis,  knew  this  better 
than  either  of  these  modern  combatants.  His  special 
distinctive  mark  of  the  superiority  of  man  is  that  he 
was  to  have  dominion  over  the  earth  and  its  animal 
inhabitants ;  and  he  represents  this  dominion  as 
inaugurated  by  man's  examining  and  naming  the 
animals  of  Eden,  and  finding  among  them  no  "  help 
meet"  for  him.*  Man  was  to  find  in  them  helps, 
but  helps  under  his  control,  and  that  not  the  control 

*  Literally,  "  Corresponding,"  or  "  Similar,"  to  him. 
18 


394      THE  STORY  OP  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN. 

of  brute  force,  but  of  higher  skill  and  of  thought 
and  even  of  love — a  control  still  seen  in  some  degree 
in  the  relation  of  man  to  his  faithful  companion,  the 
dog.  These  old  words  of  Genesis,  simple  though 
they  are,  place  the  rational  superiority  of  man  on  a 
stable  basis,  and  imply  a  distinction  between  him  and 
the  lower  animals  which  cannot  be  shaken  by  the 
sophistries  of  the  evolutionists. 

The  theistic  picture  further  accords  with  the  fact 
that  the  geological  time  immediately  preceding  man's 
appearance  was  a  time  of  decadence  of  many  of 
the  grander  forms  of  animal  life,  especially  in  that 
area  of  the  old  continent  where  man  was  to  appear. 
Whatever  may  be  said  of  the  imperfection  of  the 
geological  record,  there  can  be  no  question  of  the 
fact  that  the  Miocene  and  earlier  Pliocene  were  dis- 
tinguished by  the  prevalence  of  grand  and  gigantic 
forms  of  mammalian  life,  some  of  which  disappeared 
in  or  before  the  Glacial  period,  while  others  failed 
after  that  period  in  the  subsidence  of  the  Post-glacial, 
or  in  connection  with  its  amelioration  of  climate. 
The  Modern  animals  are  also,  as  explained  above,  a 
selection  from  the  grander  fauna  of  the  Post-glacial 
period.  To  speak  for  the  moment  in  Darwinian 
language,  there  was  for  the  time  an  evident  tendency 
to  promote  the  survival  of  the  fittest,  not  in  mere 
physical  development,  but  in  intelligence  and  sagacity. 
A  similar  tendency  existed  even  in  the  vegetable 
world,  replacing  the  flora  of  American  aspect  which 
had  existed  in  the  Pliocene,  with  the  richer  and  more 


PRIMITIVE    MAN.  395 

useful  flora  of  Europe  and  Western  Asia.  This  not 
obscurely  indicates  the  preparing  of  a  place  for  man, 
and  the  removal  out  of  his  way  of  obstacles  and 
hindrances.  That  these  changes  had  a  relation  to 
the  advent  of  man,  neither  theist  nor  evolutionist  can 
doubt,  and  it  may  be  that  we  shall  some  day  find 
that  this  relation  implies  the  existence  of  a  creative 
law  intelligible  by  us;  but  while  we  fail  to  perceive 
any  link  of  direct  causation  between  the  changes  in 
the  lower  world,  and  the  introduction  of  our  race,  we 
cannot  help  seeing  that  correlation  which  implies  a 
far-reaching  plan,  and  an  intelligent  design. 

Finally,  the  evolutionist  picture  wants  some  of  the 
fairest  lineaments  of  humanity,  and  cheats  us  with  a 
semblance  of  man  without  the  reality.  Shave  and 
paint  your  ape  as  you  may,  clothe  him  and  set  him 
up  upon  his  feet,  still  he  fails  greatly  of  the  "  human 
form  divine;"  and  so  it  is  with  him  morally  and 
spiritually  as  well.  We  have  seen  that  he  wants  the 
instinct  of  immortality,  the  love  of  God,  the  mental 
and  spiritual  power  of  exercising  dominion  over  the 
earth.  The  very  agency  by  which  he  is  evolved  is  of 
itself  subversive  of  all  these  higher  properties.  The 
struggle  for  existence  is  essentially  selfish,  and  there- 
fore degrading.  Even  in  the  lower  animals,  it  is  a 
false  assumption  that  its  tendency  is  to  elevate;  for 
animals  when  driven  to  the  utmost  verge  of  struggle 
for  life,  become  depauperated  and  degraded.  The 
dog  which  spends  its  life  in  snarling  contention  with 
its  fellow-curs  for  insufficient  food,  will  not  be  a  noble 


396       THE  STOEY  OP  THE  EAETH  AND  MAN. 

specimen  of  its  race.  God  does  not  so  treat  Hia 
creatures.  There  is  far  more  truth  to  nature  in  the 
doctrine  which  represents  him  as  listening  to  the 
young  ravens  when  they  cry  for  food.  But  as  applied 
to  man,  the  theory  of  the  struggle  for  existence  and 
survival  of  the  fittest,  though  the  most  popular  phase 
of  evolutionism  at  present,  is  nothing  less  than  the 
basest  and  most  horrible  of  superstitions.  It  makes 
man  not  merely  carnal,  but  devilish.  It  takes  his 
lowest  appetites  and  propensities,  and  makes  them 
his  God  and  creator.  His  higher  sentiments  and 
aspirations,  his  self-denying  philanthropy,  his  enthu- 
siasm for  the  good  and  true,  all  the  struggles  and 
sufferings  of  heroes  and  martyrs,  not  to  speak  of  that 
self-sacrifice  which  is  the  foundation  of  Christianity, 
are  in  the  view  of  the  evolutionist  mere  loss  and 
waste,  failure  in  the  struggle  of  life.  What  does  he 
give  us  in  exchange  ?  An  endless  pedigree  of  bestial 
ancestors,  without  one  gleam  of  high  or  holy  tradition 
to  enliven  the  procession;  and  for  the  future,  the 
prospect  that  the  poor  mass  of  protoplasm  which 
constitutes  the  sum  of  our  being,  and  which  is  the 
sole  gain  of  an  indefinite  struggle  in  the  past,  must 
soon  be  resolved  again  into  inferior  animals  or  dead 
matter.  That  men  of  thought  and  culture  should 
advocate  such  a  philosophy,  argues  either  a  strange 
mental  hallucination,  or  that  the  higher  spiritual 
nature  has  been  wholly  quenched  within  them.  It 
is  one  of  the  saddest  of  many  sad  spectacles  that  our 
age  presents.  Still  these  men  deserve  credit  for  their 


PRIMITIVE    MAN.  397 

bold  pursuit  of  truth,  or  what  seems  to  them  to  be 
truth;  and  they  are,  after  all,  nobler  sinners  than 
those  who  would  practically  lower  us  to  the  level  of 
beasts  by  their  negation  even  of  intellectual  life,  or 
who  would  reduce  us  to  apes,  by  making  us  the  mere 
performers  of  rites  and  ceremonies,  as  a  substitute 
for  religion,  or  who  would  advise  us  to  hand  over 
reason  and  conscience  to  the  despotic  authority  of 
fallible  men  dressed  in  strange  garbs,  and  called  by 
sacred  names.  The  world  needs  a  philosophy  and  a 
Christianity  of  more  robust  mould,  which  shall  re- 
cognise, as  the  Bible  does,  at  once  body  and  soul  and 
spirit,  at  once  the  sovereignty  of  God  and  the  liberty 
of  man;  and  which  shall  bring  out  into  practical 
operation  the  great  truth  that  God  is  a  Spirit,  and 
they  that  worship  Him  must  worship  Him  in  spirit 
and  in  truth.  Such  a  religion  might  walk  in  the 
sunlight  of  truth  and  free  discussion,  hand  in  hand 
with  science,  education,  liberty,  and  material  civilisa- 
tion, and  would  speedily  consign  evolution  to  the 
tomb  which  has  already  received  so  many  supersti- 
tions and  false  philosophies* 


INDEX. 


Abbeville,  Peat  of,  294. 

Acadian  Group,  38. 

Advent  of  Man,  286. 

Agassiz  on  Synthetic  Types,  181. 

Ammonitidee,  221. 

Amphibians  of  the   Coal   Period, 

144. 

Andrews  on  the  Post-pliocene,  293. 
Anthracosaurus,  145. 
Anticosti  Formation,  61. 
Antiquity  of  Man,  292. 
Archceocyathus,  47. 
Archebiosis,  327. 
Arenicolites,  46. 
Asterolepis,  98. 

B acuities,  222. 

Bala  Limestone,  59. 

Baphetes,  145. 

Barrande  on  Primordial,  49. 

Bastian  on  Lower  forms  of  Life,  327. 

Beatricea,  65. 

Belemnites,  223. 

Bigsby  on  Silurian  Fauna,  75  ;  on 

Primordial  Life,  52. 
Billings  on  Archaeocyathus,  46  ;  on 

Feet  of  Trilobites,  44. 
Binney  on  Stigmaria,  127. 
Biology  as  a  term,  327. 
Boulder  Clay,  268. 
Brachiopods,  or  Lamp-shells,  89. 
Breccia  of  Caverns,  304. 
Brown,  Mr.  K.,  on  Stigmaria,  127. 

Catamites,  104,  129,  173. 

Calcaire  Grossier,  247. 

Cambrian  Age,  36  ;  name   defined, 

49. 

Caradoc  Kocks,  60. 
Carbonic  Acid  in  Atmosphere,  123. 
Carboniferous    Age,    109  ;     Land 


Snails  of  the,  138;  Cms. 
taceans  of  the,  154 ;  Insects  of 
the,  135  ;  Corals  of  the,  153  ; 
Plants  of  the,  120 ;  Fishes  of  the, 
157;  Footprints  in  the,  143; 
Geography  of  the,  110 ;  Eeptiles 
of  the,  143. 

Carpenter  on  Cretaceous  Sea,  230. 

Carruthers  on  Graptolites,  72. 

Cave  Earth,  305. 

Cavern  Deposits,  304. 

Cephalaspis,  97. 

Cephalopods  of  Silurian,  69. 

Ceteoxaurus,  204  ;  Foraminifera  in 
the,  227. 

Chalk,  Nature  of,  227. 

Chaos,  2. 

Climactichnites,  45. 

Coal,  Origin  of,  116 ;  of  the  Meso- 
zoic,  201. 

Colours  of  Eocks,  110. 

Continental  Plateaus,  57. 

Continents,  their  Origin,  13. 

Conulus  Prisons,  139. 

Cope  on  Dinosaurs,  202  ;  on  Ptero- 
dactyl, 206;  on  Mososaurus, 
217 ;  on  Caverns,  303. 

Corals  of  the  Silurian,  63  ;  agency 
of,  in  forming  Limestone,  63,  89  ; 
of  the  Devonian,  89 ;  of  the  Car- 
boniferous,  153. 

Corniferous  Limestone,  96. 

Coryphodon,  244. 

Creation,  Unity  of,  33;  not  by 
Evolution,  33  ;  laws  of,  78,  150 ; 
statement  of  as  a  theory,  340 ;  re- 
quirements of,  343  ;  how  treated 
by  Evolutionists,  339 ;  definition 
and  explanation  of,  340  ;  its  pro- 
bable conditions,  352. 

Creator,  evidence  of  a  personal,  344, 


400 


INDEX. 


Cretaceous  Period,  192,  231  ;   Sea 

of  the,  230. 

Criuoids  of  the  Silurian,  68. 
Croll  on  the  Post-pliocene,  262. 
Crusiana,  45. 
Crustaceans  of  the  Primordial,  42  ; 

of    the    Silurian,    71;     of     the 

Mesozoic,  225. 
Crust  of  the  Earth,  5 ;  Folding  of, 

165. 

Cuvier  on  Tertiary  Mammals,  249. 
Cystideans,  69. 

Dana  on  Geological  Periods,  175. 

Darwin,  Nature  of  his  Theory,  327 ; 
his  account  of  the  Origin  of  Man, 
337 ;  his  statement  of  Descent  of 
Man,  337. 

Davidson  on  Brachiopods,  169. 

Dawkins  on  Post-glacial  Mammals, 
300. 

Delaunay  on  Solidity  of  thejEarth,6. 

Deluge,  the,  290. 

Devonian,  or  Brian  Age,  81  ;  Physi- 
cal Condition  of,  82 ;  Tabular 
View  of,  85  ;  Corals  of  the,  89  ; 
Fishes  of  the,  96  ;  Plants  of  the, 
102  ;  Geography  of  the,  82 ;  In- 
sects of  the,  107. 

Dinichthys,  99. 

Dinosaurs,  202. 

Dromatherium,  208. 

Dudley,  Fossils  of,  69. 

Earth,  its  earliest  state,  9 ;  Crust 

of    the,     5;     folding    of,    165; 

gaseous  state  of,  9. 
Edenic  state  of  Man,  310,  376. 
Edwards,     Milne,     on     Devonian 

Corals,  89. 
Elasmosaurus,  214. 
Elephants,  Fossil,  254,  300. 
Elevation  and  Subsidence,  13,  29, 

83,  165. 

Enaliosaurs,  213. 
"  Engis"  Skull,  its  characters,  357. 
Eocene  Seas,  241 ;  Foraminifera  of 

the,  241 ;  Mammals  of  the,  247  ; 

Plants  of  the,   238;  Footprints 

in  the,  299. 
Eophyton,  42. 
Eosaurus,  145, 


Eozoic  Period,  17. 

Eozoon  Bavaricum,  38. 

Eozoon  Canadense,  20,  24. 

Erian,  or  Devonian,  81 ;  Keason  of 

the   Name,   84;  Table  of  Erian 

Formations,  85;  Corals  of  the, 

89  ;  Fishes  of  the,  96  ;  Plants  of 

the,  102. 

Eskers  or  Kames,  286. 
Etheridge  on  Devonian,  85. 
Eurypterus,  71,  115. 
Evolution  as   applied  to  Eozoon, 

33 ;     Primordial    Animals,    55 ; 

Silurian  Animals,  77 ;  Trilobites, 

94, 155;  Beptiles,  150;  Man,  319 ; 

Its  Character  as  a  Theory,  320 ; 

Its  Difficulties,  322  ;  Its  "  Fall  of 

Man,"  382, 

Falconer  on  Indian  Miocene,  252. 

Favosites,  91. 

Ferns  of  the  Devonian,  96 ;  of  th* 
Carboniferous,  120. 

Fishes,  Ganoid,  99  ;  of  the  Silu- 
rian, 74 ;  of  the  Devonian,  96  ; 
of  the  Carboniferous,  157. 

Flora  of  the  Silurian,  76  ;  of  the 
Devonian,  102  ;  of  the  Carboni- 
ferous, 120 ;  of  the  Permian, 
172  ;  of  the  Mesozoic,  199  ;  of 
the  Eocene,  238  ;  of  the  Mio- 
cene, 259. 

Footprints  in  the  Carboniferous, 
143  ;  in  the  Trias,  203  ;  in  the 
Eocene,  297. 

Foraminifera,  Nature  of,  24  ;  Lau- 
rentian,  25  ;  of  the  Chalk,  227  ; 
of  the  Tertiary,  241. 

Forbes  on  Post-glacial  Land,  288. 

Forests  of  the  Devonian,  102  ;  of 
the  Carboniferous,  120. 

Ganoid  Fishes,  96,  99. 

Gaseous  state  of  the  Earth,  9. 

Genesis,  Book  of,  its  account  of 
Chaos,  2;  of  Creation  of  Land, 
13  ;  of  Palaeozoic  Animals,  187  ; 
of  Creation  of  Keptiles,  150 ;  of 
Creation  of  Mammals,  234,  298  ; 
of  the  Deluge,  290 ;  of  Creation 
of  Man,  379  ;  of  Eden,  379. 

Genesis  of  the  Earth,  1. 


INDEX. 


401 


Geography  of  the  Sihuian,  57  ;  of 
the  Devonian,  82  ;  of  the  Car- 
boniferous, 110  ;  of  the  Permian, 
163. 

Geological  Periods,  175,  195. 

Glacial  Period,  267,  278. 

Glauconite,  229. 

Glyptoerinus,  88. 

Graptolites,  72. 

Greenland,  Miocene  Flora  of,  260. 

Greensand,  229. 

Giimbel  on  Bavarian  Eozoon,  37. 

Hadrosaurus,  202. 

Hall  on  Graptolites,  72 ; 

Harlech  Beds,  38. 

Heer  on  Tertiary  Plants,  261. 

Helderberg  Rocks,  62. 

Hercynian  Schists,  37. 

Heterogenesis,  327. 

Hicks  on  Primordial  Fossils,  38. 

Hilgard  on  Mississippi  Delta,  296. 

Hippopotamus,  Fossil,  300. 

Histioderma,  46. 

Hopkins  on  Solidity  of  the  Earth,  6. 

Hudson Eiver  Group,, 60. 

Hull  on  Geological  Periods,  186. 

Hunt,  Dr.  T.  S.,  on  Volcanic 
Action,  7  ;  on  Chemistry  of 
Primeval  Earth,  11 ;  on  Lingulae, 
41. 

Huronian  Formation,  36. 

Huxley  on  Coal,  132 ;  on  Carbo- 
niferous Reptiles,  145  ;  on  Dino- 
saurs, 202 ;  on  Paley's  Argu- 
ment from  Design,  348  ;  on 
Good  and  Evil,  349;  on  Intui- 
tive and  Rational  Actions,  391 ; 
on  tendency  of  Evolutionist 
views,  348. 

Hylonomus,  148. 

Ice-action  in  Permian,  168 ;  in 
Poat-pliocene,  270. 

Ichthyosaurus,  213. 

Iguanodon,  202. 

Insects,  Devonian,  107;  Carbo- 
niferous, 135. 

Intelligence  of  Animals,  Nature 
of,  328. 

Jurassic,  subdivisions  of,  190. 


Kames,  286. 

Kaup  on  Dinotherium,  251. 
Kent's  Cavern,  304. 
King-crabs  of  Carboniferous,  154. 
King  on    Carboniferous    Reptiles, 
143. 

Labyrinthodon,  201, 

Lalaps,  203. 

Lamp-shells,  40. 

Land-snails  of  Carboniferous,  138. 

La  Place's  Nebular  Theory,  7. 

Laurentian  Rocks,  18  ;  Life  in  the, 
23  ;  Plants  of  the,  32. 

Lepidodendron,  103,  106, 127. 

Leptophleum,  104. 

Limestone  Corniferous,  96  ;  Num- 
mulitic,  241 ;  Milioline,  243 ; 
Silurian,  64;  Origin  of,  27, 63,  89. 

Limulus,  154. 

Lingults,  39. 

Lingula  Flags,  38. 

Logan,  Sir  W.,  on  Laurentian 
Rocks,  18;  on  Reptilian  Foot- 
prints, 143. 

London  Clay,  247. 

Longmynd  Rocks,  38,  47. 

Lower  Helderberg  Group,  62. 

Ludlow  Group,  62. 

Lyell,  Sir  C.,  on  Devonian  Lime- 
stone, 89  ;  on  Wealden,  191 ;  on 
Classification  of  the  Tertiary, 
238. 

Machairodus,  250. 

Magnesian  Limestones,  166. 

Mammals  of  the  Mesozoic,  208  ;  of 
the  Eocene,  247  ;  of  the  Miocene, 
250 ;  of  the  Pliocene,  256  ;  of  tho 
Post-glacial,  300. 

Man,  Advent  of,  286. 

Man,  Antiquity  of,  292;  History 
of,  according  to  Theory  of 
Creation,  377 ;  according  to  Evo- 
lution, 381 ;  widely  different 
from  Apes,  360;  a  new  type,  365 ; 
Primitive,  not  a  Savage,  367; 
his  Spiritual  Nature,  384,  370, 
387  ;  Locality  of  his  Origin,  373  ; 
Primeval,  according  to  Creation, 
377;  according  to  Evolution, 
381. 


402 


INDEX. 


Mayhill  Sandstone,  60. 
Medina  Sandstone,  60. 
Megalosaurus,  203. 
Menevian  Formation,  38. 
Mesozoic  Ages, 188  ;  subdivisions  of, 

189 ;  Flora  of,  199  ;  Coal  of,  201 ; 

Crustaceans  of  the,  225  ;  Eeptiles 

of  the,  201,  212. 
Metalliferous  Eocks,  167. 
Metamorphism,  21. 
Microlestes,  208. 
Milioline  Limestones,  243. 
Miller  on  Old  Bed  Sandstone,  86. 
Millipedes,  Fossil,  136. 
Miocene     Plants,     260 ;    Climate, 

264 ;  Mammals  of,  250. 
Mississippi,  Delta  of  the,  296. 
Modern  Period,  283. 
Mosasaurus,  206. 
Morse  on  Lingula,  39. 
Murchison  on  the  Silurian,  56. 

Nebular  Theory,  7. 
Neolithic  Age,  284. 
Neozoic  Ages,  236;  divisions  of, 

239. 

Newberry  on  Dinichthys,  99. 
Nicholson  on  G-raptolites,  72, 
Nummulitic  Limestones,  241. 

Oldhamia,  45. 
Old  Bed  Sandstone,  86. 
Oneida  Conglomerate.  69. 
Orthoceratites,  69,  154. 
Oscillations  of  Continents,  179. 
Owen  on  Dinosaurs,  202 ;  on  Mar- 
supials, 209. 

Palaeolithic  Age,  284,  289. 
Palceophis,  245. 

Palaeozoic  Life,  181;  diagram  of,  186. 
Paley   on  Design  in  Nature  ;  his 

illustration  of  the  watch,  349. 
Peat  of  Abbeville,  294. 
Pengelly  on  Kent's  Hole,  304. 
Pentremites,  153. 
Periods,  Geological,  195,  175. 
Permian  Age,  160 ;  Geography  of 

the,  163 ;  Ice-action  in  the,  168 ; 

Plants  of  the,  172;  Eeptiles  of 

the,  172. 
Phillips  on  Dawn  of  Lut>,  30;  on 

Ceteosaurus,  204. 


Pictet  on  Post-pliocene  Mammals, 
256 ;  on  Post-glacial  Animals, 
357. 

Pictures  of  Primeval  Man,  376. 

Pierce  on  Diminution  of  Earth's 
Eotation,  165. 

Pines  of  the  Devonian,  105  ;  of  the 
Carboniferous,  131 ;  of  the  Per- 
mian, 173. 

Placoid  Fishes,  96. 

Plants  of  the  Laurentlan,  32  ;  of  the 
Silurian,  76 ;  of  the  Devonian, 
102  ;  of  the  Carboniferous,  124  ; 
of  the  Permiaki,  172;  of  the 
Mesozoic,  199 ;  of  the  Tertiary 
258  ;  classification  of,  122. 

Plateaus,  Continental,  57. 

Plesiosaurus,  215. 

Pliocene,  Climate  of,  266;  Mam- 
mals of,  256. 

Pliosaurus,  215. 

Pluvial  Period,  287. 

Post-glacial  Age,  283,  292. 

Post-pliocene  Period,  274 ;  cold, 
278;  Ice-action  in  the,  270; 
Subsidence,  279  ;  Elevation,  284; 
Shells,  evidence  of,  against  Deri- 
vation, 358 ;  Mammals,  evidence 
of,  against  Derivation,  357. 

Potsdam  Sandstone,  38. 

Prestwich  on  St.  Acheul,  294. 

Primordial  Age,  36 ;  Crustacean 
of  the,  42. 

Protichnites,  45. 

Protorosaurus,  172. 

Prototaxites,  76. 

Psilophyton,  76,  103. 

Pteraspis,  76. 

Pterichthys,  98. 

Pterodactyls,  206. 

Pterygotus,  93. 

Pupa  vetusta,  139. 

Quebec  Group,  60. 

Eain-marks,  47. 

Eamsay  on  Permian,  168. 

Eed  Sandstones,  their  Origin,  110, 
166. 

Eeptiles  of  the  Carboniferous,  143  ; 
of  the  Permian,  172 ;  of  the  Me- 
sozoic, 201,  212. 


INDEX. 


403 


Rhinoceros,  Fossil,  300. 
Rocks,  Colours  of,  110. 
Rotation  of  the  Earth,  its  Gradual 
Diminution,  165. 

S«Jter  on  Fossil  Crustacea,  155. 
Sedgwick  on  Cambrian,  56,  75. 
Seeley  on  Pterodactyls,  206. 
Shrinkage- cracks,  47. 
Sigillaria,  104,  124. 
Silurian  Ages,    56 ;    Cephalopoda 

of  the,  69  ;  Corals  of  the,  63 ; 

Crinoids  of  the  68  ;  Crustaceans 

of  the,  71 ;  Fishes   of  the,  74 ; 

Plants  of  the,  76. 
Siluro-Cambrian,  use  of  the  term, 

56. 

Slaty  Structure,  48. 
Solidity  of  the  Earth,  6. 
Somme,  R.,  Gravels  of,  292. 
Species,  Nature  of  the,  327 ;  how 

Created,  352. 

Spencer,  his    Exposition  of  Evo- 
lution, 321,  331. 
Spiritual  Nature  of  Man,.  384,  370, 

387. 
Spore-cases  in  Coals   and  Shales, 

106. 

Stalagmite  of  Caves,  305. 
Striated  Rock-surfaces,  269. 
Stumps,  Fossil  of    Carboniferous, 

140. 
Synthetic  Types,  181. 

Table  of  Devonian  Rocks,  85 ;  of 
Palaeozoic  Ages,  187 ;  of  Mesozoic 
Ages,  234 ;  of  Neozoic  Ages, 
298 ;  of  Post-pliocene,  276. 


Temperature    of   Interior  af  the 

Earth,  4. 
Tertiary    Period,    236;    Mammals 

of,  247,  250,  256 ;    classification 

of  its  Rocks,  238. 
Thomson,  Sir  W.,  on  Solidity  of 

the  Earth,  6. 

Time,  Geological  Divisions  of,  175. 
Tini5re,  Cone  of,  293. 
Trenton  Limestone,  59,  63. 
Trias,Divisions  of,  189  ;  Footprint* 

in  the,  203. 

Trilobites,  43,  94,  154 ;  Feet  of,  43. 
Turtles  of  Mesozoic,  218. 
Tylor  on  Pluvial  Period,  287. 
Tyndall     on     Carbonic    Acid    in 

Atmosphere,  123. 

Uniforrnitarianism  in  Geology,  8. 
Utica  Shale,  60. 

Volcanic  Action,  7;  of  Cambrian 
Age,  36  ;  of  Silurian  Age,  62  ;  oi 
Devonian  Age,  81,  83. 

Von  Dechen  on  Reptiles  of  Car- 
boniferous, 148.  145. 

Von  Meyer  on  Dinosaurs,  202. 

Walchia,  173. 

Wallace,  his  views  on  Inapplicability 
of  Natural  Selection  to  Man,  368. 
Wealden,  191. 
Wenlock  Group,  62. 
Williamsonia  gigas,  200. 
Williamson  on  Calamites,  181 . 
Woodward  on  Pterygotui,  93. 

Zaphreictis  94, 


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cate of  Holland :  with  a  View  of  the  Primary  Causes  and 
Movements  of  "The  Thirty  Years'  War."  By  JOHN  LOTHROP 
MOTLEY,  LL.D.,  D.C.L.  Illustrated.  Cheap  Edition,  2  vols. 
in  a  Box,  8vo,  Cloth,  with  Paper  Labels,  Uncut  Edges  and  Gilt 
Tops,  $4  00.  Sold  only  in  Sets.  Original  Library  Edition,  2 
vols.,  8vo,  Cloth,  $7  00;  Sheep,  $8  00 ;  Half  Calf,  $11  50. 

SKETCHES  AND  STUDIES  IN  SOUTHERN  EUROPE.  By 
JOHN  ADDINGTON  SYMONDS.  In  Two  Volumes.  Post  8vo, 
Cloth,  $4  00. 

SYMONDS'S  GREEK  POETS.  Studies  of  the  Greek  Poets.  By 
JOHN  ADDINGTON  SYMONDS.  2  vols.,  Square  16mo,  Cloth,  $3  50. 

HUDSON'S  HISTORY  OF  JOURNALISM.  Journalism  in  the 
United  States,  from  1690  to  1872.  By  FREDERIC  HUDSON.  8vo, 
Cloth,  $5  00 ;  Half  Calf,  $7  25. 


Valuable  Works  for  Piibtic  and  Private  Libraries.         3 

TREVELYAN'S  LIFE  OF  MACAULAY.  The  Life  and  Let- 
ters of  Lord  Macaulay.  By  his  Nephew,  G.  OTTO  TREVELYAN, 
M.P.  With  Portrait  on  Steel.  Complete  in  2  vols.,  8vo,  Cloth, 
Uncut  Edges  and  Gilt  Tops,  $5  00 ;  Sheep,  $6  00 ;  Half  Calf, 
$9  50.  Popular  Edition,  two  vols.  in  one,  12mo,  Cloth,  $1  75. 

TEEVELYAN'S  LIFE  OF  FOX.  The  Early  History  of  Charles 
James  Fox.  By  GEORGE  OTTO  TREVELYAN.  8vo,  Cloth,  Un- 
cut Edges  and  Gilt  Tops,  $2  50 ;  4to,  Paper,  20  cents. 

BENJAMIN'S  CONTEMPORARY  ART.  Contemporary  Art  in 
Europe.  By  S.  G.  W.  BENJAMIN.  Illustrated.  8vo,  Cloth, 
$3  50. 

BENJAMIN'S  ART  IN  AMERICA.  Art  in  America.  By  S.  G. 
W.  BENJAMIN.  Illustrated.  8vo,  Cloth,  $4  00. 

KINGLAKE'S  CRIMEAN  WAR.  The-Invasion  of  the  Crimea: 
its  Origin,  and  an  Account  of  its  Progress  down  to  the  Death 
of  Lord  Raglan.  By  ALEXANDER  WILLIAM  KINGLAKE.  With 
Maps  and  Plans.  Four  Volumes  now  ready.  12mo,  Cloth, 
$2  00  per  vol. 

LAMB'S  COMPLETE  WORKS.  The  Works  of  Charles  Lamb. 
Comprising  his  Letters,  Poems,  Essays  of  Elia,  Essays  upon 
Shakspeare,  Hogarth,  etc.,  and  a  Sketch  of  his  Life,  with  the 
Final  Memorials,  by  T.  NOON  TALFOURD.  With  Portrait.  2 
vols.,  12mo,  Cloth,  $3  00. 

LOSSING'S  FIELD-BOOK  OF  THE  REVOLUTION.  Picto- 
rial Field-Book  of  the  Revolution  ;  or,  Illustrations  by  Pen  and 
Pencil  of  the  History,  Biography,  Scenery,  Relics,  and  Traditions 
of  the  War  for  Independence.  By  BENSON  J.  LOSSING.  2  vols., 
8vo,  Cloth,  $14  00 ;  Sheep  or  Roan,  $15  00 ;  Half  Calf,  $18  00. 

LOSSING'S  FIELD-BOOK  OF  THE  WAR  OF  1812.  Picto- 
rial Field-Book  of  the  War* of  1812;  or,  Illustrations  by  Pen 
and  Pencil  of  the  History,  Biography,  Scenery,  Relics,  and  Tra- 
ditions of  the  last  War  for  American  Independence.  By  BEN- 
SON J.  LOSSING.  With  several  hundred  Engravings  on  Wood  by 
Lossing  and  Barritt,  chiefly  from  Original  Sketches  by  the  Au- 
thor. 1088  pages,  8vo,  Cloth,  $7  00;  Sheep,  $8  50;  Roan, 
$9  00;  Half  Calf,  $1000. 

FORSTER'S  LIFE  OF  DEAN  SWIFT.  The  Early  Life  of  Jon- 
athan Swift  (1667-1711).  By  JOHN  FORSTER.  With  Portrait. 
8vo,  Cloth,  Uncut  Edges  and  Gilt  Tops,  $2  50. 


4          Valuable  Works  for  Public  and  Private  Libraries. 

LAWRENCE'S  HISTORICAL  STUDIES.  Historical  Studies. 
By  EUGENE  LAWRENCE.  Containing  the  following  Essays  :  The 
Bishops  of  Rome. — Leo  and  Luther. — Loyola  and  the  Jesuits. 
— Ecumenical  Councils. — The  Vaudois. — The  Huguenots. — The 
Church  of  Jerusalem. — Dominic  and  the  Inquisition. — The  Con- 
quest of  Ireland. — The  Greek  Church.  8vo,  Cloth,  Uncut  Edges 
and  Gilt  Tops,  $3  00. 

GREEN'S  ENGLISH  PEOPLE.  History  of  the  English  People. 
By  JOHN  RICHARD  GREEN,  M.A.  Four  Volumes.  8vo,  Cloth, 
$2  50  per  volume. 

SHORT'S  NORTH  AMERICANS  OF  ANTIQUITY.  The 
North  Americans  of  Antiquity.  Their  Origin,  Migrations,  and 
Type  of  Civilization  Considered.  By  JOHN  T.  SHORT.  Illus- 
trated. 8vo,  Cloth,  $3  00. 

SQUIER'S  PERU.  Peru :  Incidents  of  Travel  and  Exploration 
in  the  Land  of  the  Incas.  By  E.GEORGE  SQUIER,  M.A., 
F.S.A.,  late  U.  S.  Commissioner  to  Peru.  With  Illustrations. 
8vo,  Cloth,  $5  00. 

BLAIKIE'S  LIFE  OF  DAVID  LIVINGSTONE.  Dr.  Living- 
stone :  Memoir  of  his  Personal  Life,  from  his  Unpublished 
Journals  and  Correspondence.  By  W.  G.  BLAIKIE,  D.D.,  LL.D. 
With  Portrait  and  Map.  8vo,  Cloth,  $3  50. 

MAURY'S  PHYSICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  SEA.     The 

Physical  Geography  of  the  Sea,  and  its  Meteorology.     By  M. 
F.  MAURY,  LL.D.     8vo,  Cloth,  $4  00. 

SCHWEINFURTH'S  HEART  OF  AFRICA.  The  Heart  of 
Africa.  Three  Years'  Travels  and  Adventures  in  the  Unex- 
plored Regions  of  the  Centre  of  Africa— from  1868  to  1871.  By 
Dr.  GEORG  SCHWEINFURTH.  Translated  by  ELLEN  E.  FREWER. 
With  an  Introduction  by  W.  WINWOOD  READE.  Illustrated.  2 
vols.,  8vo,  Cloth,  $8  00. 

M'CLINTOCK  &  STRONG'S  CYCLOPAEDIA.  Cyclopedia  of 
Biblical,  Theological,  and  Ecclesiastical  Literature.  Prepared 
by  the  Rev.  JOHN  M'CLINTOCK,  D.D.,  and  JAMES  STRONG,  S.T.D. 
9  vols.  now  ready.  Royal  8vo.  Price  per  vol.,  Cloth,  $5  00; 
Sheep,  $6  00  ;  Half  Morocco,  $8  00. 

SHAKSPEARE.  The  Dramatic  Works  of  William  Shakspeare. 
With  Corrections  and  Notes.  Engravings.  6  vols.,  12mo,  Cloth, 
$9  00.  2  vols.,  8vo,  Cloth,  $4  00;  Sheep,  $5  00.  In  one  vol., 
8vo,  Sheep,  $4  00. 


Valuable  Works  for  Public  and  Private  Libraries.         5 

MOHAMMED  AND  MOHAMMEDANISM:  Lectures  Deliv- 
ered at  the  Royal  Institution  of  Great  Britain  in  February  and 
March,  1874.  By  R.  BOSWORTH  SMITH,  M. A.  With  an  Ap- 
pendix containing  Emanuel  Deutsch's  Article  on  "Islam." 
12mo,  Cloth,  $1  50. 

LIVINGSTONE'S  SOUTH  AFRICA.  Missionary  Travels  and 
Researches  in  South  Africa :  including  a  Sketch  of  Sixteen 
Years'  Residence  in  the  Interior  of  Africa,  and  a  Journey  from 
the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  to  Loanda  on  the  West  Coast ;  thence 
across  the  Continent,  down  the  River  Zambesi,  to  the  Eastern 
Ocean.  By  DAVID  LIVINGSTONE,  LL.D.,  D.C.L.  With  Por- 
trait, Maps,  and  Illustrations.  8vo,  Cloth,  $4  50 ;  Sheep,  $5  00 ; 
Half  Calf,  $6  75. 

LIVINGSTONE'S  ZAMBESI.  Narrative  of  an  Expedition  to 
the  Zambesi  and  its  Tributaries,  and  of  the  Discovery  of  the 
Lakes  Sliirwa  and  Nyassa,  1858-1864.  By  DAVID  and  CHARLES 
LIVINGSTONE.  Map  and  Illustrations.  8vo,  Cloth,  $5  00;  Sheep, 
$5  50 ;  Half  Calf,  $7  25. 

LIVINGSTONE'S  LAST  JOURNALS.  The  Last  Journals  of 
David  Livingstone,  in  Central  Africa,  from  1865  to  his  Death. 
Continued  by  a  Narrative  of  his  Last  Moments  and  Sufferings, 
obtained  from  his  Faithful  Servants  Chuma  and  Susi.  By 
HORACE  WALLER,  F.R.G.S.,  Rector  of  Twywell,  Northampton. 
With  Portrait,  Maps,  and  Illustrations.  8vo,  Cloth,  $5  00; 
Sheep,  $5  50  ;  Half  Calf,  $7  25.  Cheap  Popular  Edition,  8vo, 
Cloth,  with  Map  and  Illustrations,  $2  50. 

NORDHOFF'S  COMMUNISTIC  SOCIETIES  OF  THE  UNIT- 
ED STATES.  The  Communistic  Societies  of  the  United  States, 
from  Personal  Visit  and  Observation ;  including  Detailed  Ac- 
counts of  the  Economists,  Zoarites,  Shakers,  the  Amana,  Onei- 
da,  Bethel,  Aurora,  Icarian,  and  other  existing  Societies.  With 
Particulars  of  their  Religious  Creeds  and  Practices,  their  Social 
Theories  and  Life,  Numbers,  Industries,  and  Present  Condition. 
By  CHARLES  NORDHOFF.  Illustrations.  8vo,  Cloth,  $4  00. 

NORDHOFF'S  CALIFORNIA.  California:  for  Health,  Pleas- 
ure, and  Residence.  A  Book  for  Travellers  and  Settlers.  Il- 
lustrated. 8vo,  Cloth,  $2  50. 

NORDHOFF'S  NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA  AND  THE  SAND- 
WICH ISLANDS.  Northern  California,  Oregon,  and  the  Sand- 
wich Islands.  By  CHARLES  NOBDHOFF.  Illustrated.  8vo,  Cloth, 

$2  50. 


6         Valuable  Works  for  Public  and  Private  Libraries. 

MOSHEIM'S  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY,  Ancient  and  Mod- 
ern ;  in  which  the  Rise,  Progress,  and  Variation  of  Church  Pow- 
er are  considered  in  their  Connection  with  the  State  of  Learn- 
ing and  Philosophy,  and  the  Political  History  of  Europe  during 
that  Period.  Translated,  with  Notes,  etc.,  by  A.  MACLAINE, 
D.D.  Continued  to  1826,  by  C.  COOTE,  LL.D.  2  vols.,  8vo, 
Cloth,  $4  00 ;  Sheep,  $5  00. 

HARPER'S  NEW  CLASSICAL  LIBRARY.  Literal  Transla- 
tions. 

The  following  volumes  are  now  ready.  12mo,  Cloth,  $1  00 
each. 

C.ESAR. — VIRGIL.  — SALLUST.  — HORACE.  —  CICERO'S  ORA- 
TIONS.—  CICERO'S  OFFICES,  etc.  —  CICERO  ON  ORATORY  AND 
ORATORS. — TACITUS  (2  vols.). — TERENCE. —  SOPHOCLES. — JU- 
VENAL.— XENOPHON. — HOMER'S  ILIAD. — HOMER'S  ODYSSEY. — 
HERODOTUS.  —  DEMOSTHENES  (2  vols.). — THUCYDIDES. — JEs- 
CHYLUS. — EURIPIDES  (2  vols.). — LIVY  (2  vols.). — PLATO  [Select 
Dialogues]. 

VINCENT'S   LAND    OF  THE  WHITE  ELEPHANT.      The 

Land  of  the  White  Elephant :  Sights  and  Scenes  in  Southeastern 
Asia.  A  Personal  Narrative  of  Travel  and  Adventure  in  Far- 
ther India,  embracing  the  Countries  of  Burma,  Siam,  Cambodia, 
and  Cochin-China  (1871-2).  By  FRANK  VINCENT,  Jr.  Illus- 
trated. Crown  8vo,  Cloth,  $3  50. 

GROTE'S  HISTORY  OF  GREECE.  12  vols.,  12mo,  Cloth, 
$18  00  ;  Sheep,  $22  80  ;  Half  Calf,  $39  00. 

RECLUS'S  EARTH.  The  Earth:  a  Descriptive  History  of  the 
Phenomena  of  the  Life  of  the  Globe.  By  ELIS£E  RECLUS. 
With  234  Maps  and  Illustrations,  and  23  Page  Maps  printed  in 
Colors.  8vo,  Cloth,  $5  00. 

RECLUS'S  OCEAN.  The  Ocean,  Atmosphere,  and  Life.  Being 
the  Second  Series  of  a  Descriptive  History  of  the  Life  of  the 
Globe.  By  SLISBE  RECLUS.  Profusely  Illustrated  with  250 
Maps  or  Figures,  and  27  Maps  printed  in  Colors.  8vo,  Cloth, 
$6  00. 

GRIFFIS'S  JAPAN.  The  Mikado's  Empire  :  Book  I.  History  of 
Japan,  from  660  B.C.  to  1872  A.D.  Book  II.  Personal  Expe- 
riences, Observations,  and  Studies  in  Japan,  1870-1874.  By 
WILLIAM  ELLIOT  GRIFFIS,  A.M.,  late  of  the  Imperial  University 
of  Tokio,  Japan.  Copiously  Illustrated.  8vo,  Cloth,  $4  00 ; 
Half  Calf,  $6  25. 


Valuable  WorTcs  for  Public  and  Private  Libraries.         7 

BAKER'S  ISMAILIA.  Ismailia  :  a  Narrative  of  the  Expedition 
to  Central  Africa  for  the  Suppression  of  the  Slave-trade,  organ- 
ized by  Ismail,  Khedive  of  Egypt.  By  Sir  SAMUEL  WHITE  BA- 
KER, PASHA,  F.R.S.,  F.R.G.S.  With  Maps,  Portraits,  and  Il- 
lustrations. 8vo,  Cloth,  $5  00 ;  Half  Calf,  $7  25. 

SMILES'S  HISTORY  OF  THE  HUGUENOTS.  The  Hugue- 
nots: their  Settlements,  Churches,  and  Industries  in  England 
and  Ireland.  By  SAMUEL  SMILES.  With  an  Appendix  relat- 
ing to  the  Huguenots  in  America.  Crown  8vo,  Cloth,  $2  00. 

SMILES'S  HUGUENOTS  AFTER  THE  REVOCATION.    The 

Huguenots  in  France  after  the  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes ; 
with  a  Visit  to  the  Country  of  the  Vaudois.  By  SAMUEL  SMILES. 
Crown  8vo,  Cloth,  $2  00. 

SMILES'S  LIFE  OF  THE  STEPHENSONS.  The  Life  of 
George  Stephenson,  and  of  his  Son,  Robert  Stephenson ;  com- 
prising, also,  a  History  of  the  Invention  and  Introduction  of 
the  Railway  Locomotive.  By  SAMUEL  SMILES.  With  Steel 
Portraits  and  numerous  Illustrations.  8vo,  Cloth,  $3  00. 

NORTON'S  STUDIES  OF  CHURCH-BUILDING.  Historical 
Studies  of  Church -Building  in  the  Middle  Ages.  Venice, 
Siena,  Florence.  By  CHARLES  ELIOT  NORTON.  8vo,  Cloth, 
$300. 

ALISON'S  HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  FIRST  SERIES  :  From  the 
Commencement  of  the  French  Revolution,  in  1789,  to  the  Res- 
toration of  the  Bourbons  in  1815.  [In  addition  to  the  Notes 
on  Chapter  LXXVL,  which  correct  the  errors  of  the  original 
work  concerning  the  United  States,  a  copious  Analytical  Index 
has  been  appended  to  this  American  Edition.]  SECOND  SERIES  : 
From  the  Fall  of  Napoleon,  in  1815,  to  the  Accession  of  Louis 
Napoleon,  in  1852.  8  vols.,  8vo,  Cloth,  $16  00 ;  Sheep,  $20  00 ; 
Half  Calf,  $34  00. 

SAMUEL  JOHNSON:  HIS  WORDS  AND  HIS  WAYS;  what 
he  Said,  what  he  Did,  and  what  Men  Thought  and  Spoke  con- 
cerning him.  Edited  by  E.  T.  MASON.  12mo,  Cloth,  $1  50. 

JOHNSON'S  COMPLETE  WORKS.  The  Works  of  Samuel 
Johnson,  LL.D.  With  an  Essay  on  his  Life  and  Genius,  by  A. 
MURPHY.  2  vols.,  8vo,  Cloth,  $4  00 ;  Sheep,  $5  00 ;  Half  Calf, 

$850. 


8         Valuable  Works  for  Public  and  Private  Libraries. 

SCHLIEMANN'S  ILIOS.  Ilios,  the  City  and  Country  of  the 
Trojans.  A  Narrative  of  the  Most  Recent  Discoveries  and  Re- 
searches made  on  the  Plain  of  Troy.  With  Illustrations  rep- 
resenting nearly  2000  Types  of  the  Objects  found  in  the  Ex- 
cavations of  the  Seven  Cities  on  the  Site  of  Ilios.  By  Dr. 
HENRY  SCHLIEMANN.  Maps,  Plans,  and  Illustrations.  Impe- 
rial 8vo,  Illuminated  Cloth,  $12  00. 

BOSWELL'S  JOHNSON.  The  Life  of  Samuel  Johnson,  LL.D., 
including  a  Journal  of  a  Tour  to  the  Hebrides.  By  JAMES 
Bos  WELL.  Edited  by  J.  W.  CROKER,  LL.D.,  F.K.S.  With  a 
Portrait  of  Boswell.  2  vols.,  8vo,  Cloth,  $4  00  ;  Sheep,  $5  00 ; 
Half  Calf,  $8  50. 

ADDISON'S  COMPLETE  WORKS.  The  Works  of  Joseph 
Addison,  embracing  the  whole  of  the  Spectator.  3  vols.,  8vo, 
Cloth,  $6  00;  Sheep,  $7  50;  Half  Calf,  $12  75. 

BOURNE'S  LOCKE.  The  Life  of  John  Locke.  By  H.  R. 
Fox  BOURNE.  2  vols.,  8vo,  Cloth,  Uncut  Edges  and  Gilt  Tops, 
$5  00. 

ENGLISH  CORRESPONDENCE.  Four  Centuries  of  English 
Letters.  Selections  from  the  Correspondence  of  One  Hundred 
and  Fifty  Writers  from  the  Period  of  the  Paston  Letters  to 
the  Present  Day.  Edited  by  W.  BAPTISTE  SCOONES.  12mo, 
Cloth,  $2  00. 

THE  STUDENT'S  SERIES.      Maps  and  Illustrations.     12mo, 

Cloth. 

FRANCE.  —  GIBBON.  —  GREECE.  —  ROME  (by  LIDDELL).  —  OLD 
TESTAMENT  HISTORY. — NEW  TESTAMENT  HISTORY. — STRICK- 
LAND'S QUEENS  OP  ENGLAND  (Abridged). — ANCIENT  HISTORY 
OP  THE  EAST. — HALLAM'S  MIDDLE  AGES. — HALLAM'S  CON- 
STITUTIONAL HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. — LYELL'S  ELEMENTS  OP 
GEOLOGY.— MERIVALE'S  GENERAL  HISTORY  OF  ROME. — Cox's 
GENERAL  HISTORY  OF  GREECE. — CLASSICAL  DICTIONARY. 
$1  25  per  volume. 

LEWIS'S  HISTORY  OP  GERMANY. — ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTO- 
RY.— HUME'S  ENGLAND.     $1  50  per  volume. 

CAMERON'S  ACROSS  AFRICA.  Across  Africa.  By  VERNEY 
LOVETT  CAMERON.  Map  and  Illustrations.  8vo,  Cloth,  $5  00. 

BULWER'S  MISCELLANEOUS  PROSE  WORKS.  The  Mis- 
cellaneous Prose  Works  of  Lord  Lytton.  2  vols.,  12mo,  Cloth, 
$3  50.  Also,  in  uniform  style,  Caxtoniana.  12mo,  Cloth,  $1  75. 


Valuable  Worlcs  for  Public  and  Private  Libraries.         9 

CARLYLE'S  FREDERICK  THE  GREAT.  History  of  Friedrich 
II.,  called  Frederick  the  Great.  By  THOMAS  CARLYLE.  Por- 
traits, Maps,  Plans,  etc.  6  vols.,  12mo,  Cloth,  $12  00;  Sheep, 
$1440;  Half  Calf,  $22  50. 

CARLYLE'S  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  The  French  Revolu- 
tion: a  History.  By  THOMAS  CARLYLE.  2  vols.,  12mo,  Cloth, 
$3  50;  Sheep,  $4  30;  Half  Calf,  $7  00. 

CARLYLE'S  OLIVER  CROMWELL.  Oliver  Cromwell's  Let- 
ters and  Speeches,  including  the  Supplement  to  the  First  Edi- 
tion. With  Elucidations.  By  THOMAS  CARLYLE.  2  vols., 
12mo,  Cloth,  $3  50 ;  Sheep,  $4  30  ;  Half  Calf,  $7  00. 

ABBOTT'S  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION. 

The  French  Revolution  of  1789,  as  viewed  in  the  Light  of 
Republican  Institutions.  By  JOHN  S.  C.  ABBOTT.  Illustrated. 
8vo,  Cloth,  $5  00;  Sheep,  $5  50;  Half  Calf,  $7  25. 

ABBOTT'S  NAPOLEON.  The  History  of  Napoleon  Bonaparte. 
Bv  JOHN  S.  C.  ABBOTT.  Maps,  Illustrations,  and  Portraits.  2 
vols.,  8vo,  Cloth,  $10  00;  Sheep,  $11  00;  Half  Calf,  $14  50. 

ABBOTT'S  NAPOLEON  AT  ST.  HELENA.  Napoleon  at  St. 
Helena;  or,  Anecdotes  and  Conversations  of  the  Emperor  dur- 
ing the  Years  of  his  Captivity.  Collected  from  the  Memorials 
of  Las  Casas,  O'Meara,  Montholon,  Antommarchi,  and  others. 
By  J.  S.  C.  ABBOTT.  Illustrated.  8vo,  Cloth,  $5  00 ;  Sheep, 
$5  50 ;  Half  Calf,  $7  25. 

ABBOTT'S  FREDERICK  THE  GREAT.  The  History  of  Fred- 
erick the  Second,  called  Frederick  the  Great.  By  JOHN  S.  C. 
ABBOTT.  Illustrated.  8vo,  Cloth,  $5  00 ;  Half  Calf,  $7  25. 

DRAPER'S  CIVIL  WAR.  History  of  the  American  Civil  War. 
By  JOHN  W.  DRAPER,  M.D.,  LL.D.  3  vols.,  8vo,  Cloth,  Bev- 
elled Edges,  $10  50  ;  Sheep,  $12  00  ;  Half  Calf,  $17  25. 

DRAPER'S  INTELLECTUAL  DEVELOPMENT  OF  EU- 
ROPE. A  History  of  the  Intellectual  Development  of  Eu- 
rope. By  JOHN  W.  DRAPER,  M.D.,  LL.D.  New  Edition,  Re- 
vised. 2  vols.,  12mo,  Cloth,  $3  00  ;  Half  Calf,  $6  50. 

DRAPER'S  AMERICAN  CIVIL  POLICY.  Thoughts  on  the 
Future  Civil  Policy  of  America.  By  JOHN  W.  DRAPER,  M.D., 
LL.D.  Crown  8vo,  Cloth,  $2  00 ;  Half  Morocco,  $3  75. 


10       Valuable  Works  for  Public  and  Private  Libraries. 

MCCARTHY'S  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND.  A  History  of  Our 
Own  Times,  from  the  Accession  of  Queen  Victoria  to  the  Gen- 
eral Election  of  1880.  By  JUSTIN  MCCARTHY.  2  vols.,  12mo, 
Cloth,  $2  50. 

PERRY'S  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND.     A 

History  of  the  English  Church,  from  the  Accession  of  Henry 
VIII.  to  the  Silencing  of  Convocation.  By  G.  G.  PERRY,  M.A. 
With  a  Sketch  of  the  History  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church  in  the  United  States,  by  J.  A.  SPENCER,  S.T.D.  Crown 
8vo,  Cloth,  $2  50. 

ABBOTT'S  DICTIONARY  OF  RELIGIOUS  KNOWLEDGE. 

A  Dictionary  of  Religious  Knowledge,  for  Popular  and  Profes- 
sional Use ;  comprising  full  Information  on  Biblical,  Theologi- 
cal, and  Ecclesiastical  Subjects.  With  nearly  1000  Maps  and 
Illustrations.  Edited  by  LYMAN  ABBOTT,  with  the  Co-operation 
of  T.  J.  CONANT,  D.D.  Royal  8vo,  Cloth,  $6  00 ;  Sheep,  $7  00 ; 
Half  Morocco,  $8  50. 

PARTON'S  CARICATURE.  Caricature  and  Other  Comic  Art, 
in  All  Times  and  Many  Lands.  By  JAMES  PARTON.  203  Illus- 
trations. 8vo,  Cloth,  Uncut  Edges  and  Gilt  Tops,  $5  00 ;  Half 
Calf,  $7  25. 

MAHAFFY'S  GREEK  LITERATURE.  A  History  of  Classical 
Greek  Literature.  By  J.  P.  MAHAFFY.  2  vols.,  12mo,  Cloth, 
$400. 

DU  CHAILLU'S  EQUATORIAL  AFRICA.  Explorations  and 
Adventures  in  Equatorial  Africa :  with  Accounts  of  the  Man- 
ners and  Customs  of  the  People,  and  of  the  Chase  of  the 
Gorilla,  Crocodile,  Leopard,  Elephant,  Hippopotamus,  and  other 
Animals.  By  P.  B.  Du  CHAILLU.  Illustrated.  8vo,  Cloth, 
$5  00  ;  Sheep,  $5  50 ;  Half  Calf,  $7  25. 

DU  CHAILLU'S  ASHANGO  LAND.  A  Journey  to  Ashango 
Land,  and  Further  Penetration  into  Equatorial  Africa.  By  P.  B. 
Du  CHAILLU.  Illustrated.  8vo,  Cloth,  $5  00 ;  Sheep,  $5  50 ; 
Half  Calf,  f  7  25. 

DEXTER'S  CONGREGATIONALISM.  The  Congregationalism 
of  the  Last  Three  Hundred  Years,  as  seen  in  its  Literature: 
with  Special  Reference  to  certain  Recondite,  Neglected,  or  Dis- 
puted Passages.  With  a  Bibliographical  Appendix.  By  H.  M. 
DEXTER.  Large  8vo,  Cloth,  $6  00. 


Valuable  Works  for  Public  and  Private  Libraries.       11 

TROLLOPE'S  CICERO.     Life  of  Cicero.     By  ANTHONY  TROL- 
LOPE.      12rao,  Cloth. 

BAYNE'S  LESSONS  FROM  MY  MASTERS.     Lessons  from 
My  Masters  :  Carlyle,  Tennyson,  and  Ruskin.    By  PETER  BAYNE, 
*.,  LL.D.     12mo,  Cloth,  $1  75. 


STANLEY'S  THROUGH  THE  DARK  CONTINENT.  Through 
the  Dark  Continent  ;  or,  The  Sources  of  the  Nile,  Around  the 
Great  Lakes  of  Equatorial  Africa,  and  Down  the  Livingstone 
River  to  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  149  Illustrations  and  10  Maps. 
By  H.  M.  STANLEY.  2  vols.,  8vo,  Cloth,  $10  00;  Sheep, 
$12  00  ;  Half  Morocco,  $15  00. 

ENGLISH  MEN  OF  LETTERS.  Edited  by  JOHN  MORLET. 
The  following  volumes  are  now  ready.  Others  will  follow. 

JOHNSON.  By  L.  Stephen.  —  GIBBON.  By  J.  C.  Morison.  — 
SCOTT.  By  R.  H.  Hutton.  —  SHELLEY.  By  J.  A.  Symonds.  — 
GOLDSMITH.  By  W.  Black.  —  HUME.  By  Professor  Huxley. 
—  DEFOE.  By  W.  Minto.  —  BURNS.  By  Principal  Shairp.  — 
SPENSER.  By  R.  W.  Church.  —  THACKERAY.  By  A.  Trol- 
lope.  —  BURKE.  By  J.  Morley.  —  MILTON.  By  M.  Pattison.  — 
SOUTHEY.  By  E.  Dowden.  —  CHAUCER.  By  A.  W.  Ward.  — 
BUNYAN.  By  J.  A.  Froude.  —  COWPER.  By  G.  Smith.—  POPE. 
By  L.  Stephen.  —  BYRON.  By  J.  Nichols."—  LOCKE.  By  T. 
Fowler.—  WORDSWORTH.  By  F.  W.  H.  Myers.  12mo,  Cloth, 
75  cents  per  volume. 

HAWTHORNE.     By  Henry  James,  Jr.     12mo,  Cloth,  $1  00. 

STRICKLAND'S  (Miss)  QUEENS  OF  SCOTLAND.  Lives  of 
the  Queens  of  Scotland  and  English  Princesses  connected  with 
the  Regal  Succession  of  Great  Britain.  By  AGNES  STRICKLAND. 
8  vols.,  12mo,  Cloth,  $12  00  ;  Half  Calf,  $26  00. 

BARTLETT'S  FROM  EGYPT  TO  PALESTINE.  From  Egypt 
to  Palestine  :  Through  Sinai,  the  Wilderness,  and  the  South 
Country.  Observations  of  a  Journey  made  with  Special  Refer- 
ence to  the  History  of  the  Israelites.  By  S.  C.  BARTLETT,  D.D., 
LL.D.  With  Maps  and  Illustrations.  8vo,  Cloth,  $3  50. 

CESNOLA'S  CYPRUS.  Cyprus  :  its  Ancient  Cities,  Tombs, 
and  Temples.  A  Narrative  of  Researches  and  Excavations 
during  Ten  Years'  Residence  in  that  Island.  By  L.  P.  DI  CES- 
NOLA.  With  Portrait,  Maps,  and  400  Illustrations.  8vo,  Cloth, 
Extra,  Gilt  Tops  and  Uncut  Edges,  $7  50. 


12       Valuable  Worlcs  for  Public  and  Private  Libraries. 

TENNYSON'S  COMPLETE  POEMS.  The  Poetical  Works  of 
Alfred  Tennyson.  With  numerous  Illustrations  by  Eminent  Ar- 
tists, and  Three  Characteristic  Portraits.  8vo,  Paper,  $1  00 ; 
Cloth,  $1  50. 

NEWCOMB'S  ASTRONOMY.  Popular  Astronomy.  By  SIMON 
NEWCOMB,  LL.D.  With  One  Hundred  and  Twelve  Engrav- 
ings, and  five  Maps  of  the  Stars.  8vo,  Cloth,  $4  00 :  School 
Edition,  12mo,  Cloth,  $1  30. 

VAN-LENNEP'S  BIBLE  LANDS.  Bible  Lands :  their  Modern 
Customs  and  Manners  Illustrative  of  Scripture.  By  HENRY 
J.  VAN-LENNEP,  D.D.  350  Engravings  and  2  Colored  Maps. 
8vo,  Cloth,  $5  00 ;  Sheep,  $6  00 ;  Half  Morocco  or  Half  Calf, 
$800. 

HALLAM'S  LITERATURE.  Introduction  to  the  Literature  of 
Europe  during  the  Fifteenth,  Sixteenth,  and  Seventeenth  Centu- 
ries. By  HENUY  HALLAM.  2  vols.,  8vo,  Cloth,  $4  00;  Sheep, 

$5  00. 

HALLAM'S  MIDDLE  AGES.  View  of  the  State  of  Europe 
during  the  Middle  Ages.  By  H.  HALLAM.  8vo,  Cloth,  $2  00  ; 
Sheep,  $2  50. 

HALLAM'S  CONSTITUTIONAL  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 

The  Constitutional  History  of  England,  from  the  Accession  of 
Henry  VII.  to  the  Death  of  George  II.  By  HENRY  HALLAM. 
8vo,  Cloth,  $2  00 ;  Sheep,  $2  50. 

FLAMMARION'S  ATMOSPHERE.  The  Atmosphere.  Trans- 
lated from  the  French  of  CAMILLE  FLAMMARION.  With  10 
Chromo- Lithographs  and  86  Woodcuts.  8vo,  Cloth,  $6  00; 
Half  Calf,  $8  25. 

ANNUAL  RECORD  OF  SCIENCE  AND  INDUSTRY.     The 

Annual  Record  of  Science  and  Industry.  Edited  by  Professor 
SPENCER  F.  BAIRD,  with  the  Assistance  of  Eminent  Men  of  Sci- 
ence. The  Volumes  for  1871,  1872,  1873,  1874,  1875,  1876, 
1877,  1878  are  ready.  12mo,  Cloth,  $2  00  per  vol. ;  $15  00 
per  set. 

PRIME'S  POTTERY  AND  PORCELAIN.  Pottery  and  Porce- 
lain of  All  Times  and  Nations.  With  Tables  of  Factory  and 
Artists'  Marks,  for  the  Use  of  Collectors.  By  WILLIAM  C. 
PRIME.  LL.D.  Illustrated.  8vo,  Cloth,  Uncut  Edges  and  Gilt 
Tops,  $7  00 ;  Half  Calf,  $9  25.  (In  a  Box.) 


10 


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